Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Her skimmer raced through the forest, dodging between trees as needed but mostly trying to stick to the dirt path that was barely visible. Over the sound of her ride’s engine, she could hear another, this one getting louder as her pursuer started to gain on her. 

There was a concerned chirrup by her ear, then a slight shake to her skimmer as her co-pilot jumped from behind her back onto his own seat.

“Just hang in there, Radarr. We’re almost there.” Unfortunately, she didn’t have the chance to reassure the blue creature more before her chaser let out a war cry, causing Radarr to let out another chirrup, this one more urgent. 

She shot a glance over her shoulder. Yup, he was still there, and still big, intimidating, and set on catching her. “Yeah, I see him,” Aerrow replied, twisting back around on her seat so that she was facing forwards once more. She gave a brief smirk, allowing cockiness to seep through to her voice. “But not for long.” She twisted her right throttle, her skimmer shooting forwards in a brief wheelie at the sudden increase in speed.

Aerrow veered deliberately into the trees, hoping that the Wallop chasing her, would make a mistake and either skid out or crash, leaving her in the clear for at least a little while. She should have the advantage here, as her bike offered more maneuverability than his did.

Instead, she heard multiple cracks of bark, followed by the thunderous crash of large trees hitting the ground, each impact causing the ground underneath her ride to vibrate. Oh come on! she thought. Punching straight through the trees has to count as cheating! She didn’t have a chance to voice her complaints, though, before her nature-made obstacle course ran out, leaving nothing but flat ground until the edge of the terra. That works, too, I guess.

Without hesitation, Aerrow aimed straight for the cliff and the open sky around it. Adrenaline pumping through her veins, she drove straight off the side of the terra, entering into a free fall. She allowed herself a brief moment to enjoy the sensation of the wind whipping at her face, clothes, and hair, but grew concerned when she didn’t feel the telltale jerk that signaled her skimmer’s wings had been deployed.

Aerrow shot a glance to her co-pilot, only to see him covering his eyes in fear. “Radarr!” she yelled, trying to be heard over the whistling of the wind in her ears. “Wings!” He uncovered his eyes, noticed how fast they were falling, and let out a screech of alarm. He quickly grabbed the switch to his left, the one located on the back-right side of her skimmer, and pushed it up. Immediately, her front wheel pulled up and into the skimmer, even while its wings unlocked and spread out. Aerrow gave another quick twist to her throttle, allowing the crystals powering the machine to propel her up and out of her dive. She let out a “whoo-hoo!”, shooting into the air and doing a barrel roll just because she could.

Once she straightened out her flying, she turned to Radarr to give him a pleased smile. “Not bad, Radarr.” His unimpressed look in return told her what he thought of her stunt. She ignored him - he would just need to learn how to live a little. “Do you think we lost him?”

A sharp whistle answered her question for him. She jerked her skimmer to the left, just barely dodging a missile that trailed black smoke behind it. A quick peek over her shoulder told her that no, they hadn’t lost the Wallop. He was still trailing behind her, this time wearing a menacing smile and obviously pleased about something. He fired another missile, forcing Aerrow to once again dodge.

Not able to stop herself, she taunted, “You missed!” only to regret it right after when a bolt of energy hit her skimmer’s engine, causing it to smoke. 

She whipped her head up and around to the left, catching sight of a blond boy coming in to fly above her on his own skimmer, a crossbow shooter mounted onto the front of it.

“He may have, but I never miss!” he called to her, clearly proud that he had managed to get the drop on her.

She rolled her eyes at his words and turned back to Radarr. “Radarr, get that engine working,” she ordered, watching him dig through his compartment until he found a wrench. Once he had it in his hands, he jumped from his seat to the lower wing in front of him. There, he gave the engine a solid whack with it. 

Aerrow wasn’t too sure how that managed to fix the problem, but the engine had stopped smoking so she would count it as a win.

However, she had apparently taken her eyes off her opponents for too long, as the blond boy had fired off another shot, this one hitting Radarr and giving him a mild shock. Aerrow winced. “Sorry, buddy,” she apologized, turning her eyes back up to the sky and the other people in it, “that one was on me.”

But with her skimmer fixed, she was able to shoot forward again, easily outpacing the other two boys. “It was a nice try,” she called back, “but you’re not stopping us this time!” 

Her moment of victory was short lived.

A deep horn sounded out.

In front of her, a giant battle cruiser was rising out of the clouds. Shocked, she barely had the presence of mind to pull back on her skimmer’s handles, hard, skidding to a stop so that she didn’t go crashing into the glass of the bridge deck. By the time she came to a complete stop, she ended up face-to-face with another man.

Standing on the terrace that wrapped around the bridge, a Merb had both of his hands braced on the railing, leaning his weight against it and giving her a dark smile. “Gotcha, Sky Kight,” he uttered, his voice low and hissed. She narrowed her eyes at him, knowing that if he was here, then- 

There came the sound of blades, and a Heliscooter came into view from over the battle cruiser’s roof. This new player was a girl with dark skin and golden eyes. She wielded a metal staff with a blue crystal shining on the end. She also didn’t hesitate in firing a shot off with it, hitting Radarr and coating him in a thin layer of ice.

Oof, poor guy. Today just wasn’t his day.

“Freeze!” she called cheerfully, popping the crystal off the end of her staff and catching it in her free hand with a wink.

Aerrow heard the other two pull in behind her, effectively trapping her in a circle and blocking off almost all escape routes, but kept her gaze on the girl.

“Face it, Sky Knight, you’ve been caught,” the girl continued. 

Aerrow took a quick glance around herself. The two behind her stopped her from going backwards, and the battle cruiser in front of her stopped her from going forwards or to the sides, since she wouldn’t be able to maneuver around it before the other two could get to her. The girl was blocking off Aerrow from taking the high ground. But, she thought, that still leaves one direction open. She shot a glance downwards - perfect! There was a patch of open space directly below her, just next to the cruiser’s flight deck, and no one was guarding it. Hello, escape route.

The girl was oblivious to Aerrow’s flickering gaze, obviously believing that there was no way their target could escape. “The only way out is if you were crazy enough -”

Aerrow smirked at her, not hesitating to dive straight down, turning her skimmer to fit through the narrow space she had spotted just a few seconds earlier. This time, she kept her dive going, not pulling up even after she had passed through the lower cloud cover. After all:

“They’d be crazy to follow us through the Wastelands,” she commented to Radarr, who was finally thawing out due to the increasing heat the further down they kept going. 

Radarr made a sound that clearly conveyed that he thought she was crazy for willingly going through them herself. 

“We’ll be fine,” she said, dismissing his concerns.

Around her, the clouds started charging from white to grey to black, but Aerrow didn’t pull out of her dive until she was flying only a few feet above the lava-covered ground, the heat coming off it only bearable because the wind from moving so fast was cooling her off. The smoke in the air stung her eyes, and the jagged rocks covered in lava rising from the ground, providing convenient places to crash against, reminded her why it was best to just avoid the Wastelands in the first place. Basically, they weren’t normally worth the hassle for a quicker journey, but she figured drastic times called for drastic measures.

Besides, there was no backing out now, so she gave a shrug and continued on her way, barrel rolling over any Lava Eels that lunged at her and even flying through twin plumes of lava that erupted in front of her suddenly, not giving her a chance to fly around them. 

Once she decided that she had traveled a safe distance, Aerrow started to climb higher into the sky at a steep pace until she broke through the cloud cover into the bright blue sky again, smiling as the sun’s warmth hit her face.

Unable to help herself, she shot Radarr a smug look; she had seen how he cringed and covered his eyes each time something got, what he thought to be, too close, not wanting to see what would get them if they proved to be unlucky. He’s such a worry wart, she thought fondly. Out loud, though, she said, “See? Nothing to worry about.” 

His deeply unimpressed look spoke volumes.

“Oh, don’t be like that. Nothing happened. Now, what do you say we win ourselves a race?” At his look of interest, she pulled up her trump card - an orange stone no bigger than her palm, commonly known as a Velocity Crystal. Radarr nodded eagerly, so she opened up her skimmer’s crystal chamber and dropped in the small crystal, the hatch closing automatically once it was in. There was a split-second delay before the effect kicked in, but once it did she shot off in the direction of Terra Atmosia, which was easily recognizable by the giant tower rising from it to pierce the heavens, standing proud for all to see and letting off a blinding blue glow from its tip. 

With the Velocity Crystal in effect, she had closed the remaining distance between her and her destination in a matter of seconds. By the time she reached the terra’s outer edge, the crystal’s boost had worn off, leaving her to take in the beauty of the terra at a more leisurely speed, watching as dense vegetation gave way to farms, then as those farms gave way to the outer city limits and, eventually, to the heart of the city itself. 

A chirp to her right brought Aerrow’s attention to Radarr and off the scenery below. “What is it, buddy?” she asked.

He pointed backwards. She followed his finger to where he was pointing to a rather large tree growing out of the town’s main square.

“Oh.” She blushed. Apparently she had flown right past their agreed meeting point, not even noticing the (admittedly very large) landmark because she was too busy looking at the people and shops on the ground. She guided her Ultra into a lazy circle, making her way back to the town’s center.

Deciding she wanted to mess with her teammates, when Aerrow was finally back at the tree she circled around it, trying to find the thickest branch possible. Finally finding one that was at least thick enough to be five of her combined, she maneuvered her skimmer until it was hovering directly above it.

“Everything looks okay?” she asked Radarr, and upon receiving a thumbs up from him, gently lowered the Ultra down until it was balanced onto the branch. She switched it into its motorcycle form, then kicked her kickstand out and hopped off, staying beside it for a few seconds to make sure it wasn’t going to lose its balance and fall. She turned her back to it and leaned against the tree’s trunk. 

A few seconds later she felt Radarr’s hands land on her shoulders and his head resting on top of her own. They stood like that for the next few minutes, waiting, content to be with each other, taking the chance to just breathe after the chase that had lasted most of the morning.

Gradually the airship from before, the Condor, came into view, and together they watched as it touched down on the large hill that resided just outside of the town. The Condor’s ramp lowered, allowing a figure to run down and off the carrier before it closed back up.

If the Condor is here, she thought, then that means the other three shouldn’t be too long now. Sure enough, only a couple minutes had passed before she caught sight of them approaching on their rides, Finn in the lead, Junko and Piper trailing not too far behind. Their skimmers hit the road of the town in their road cruiser forms, Finn and Junko riding, like her, a motorcycle while Piper was driving a scooter.

The three of them came racing up the street, obviously thinking that they had managed to beat her here and that first place was still up for grabs. Finn skidded to a stop in front of the tree, stretching his arm out so that his palm landed on its rough bark with a slap.

“Woo-hoo! I’m the winner!” he cheered, turning towards the other two, who had parked a few feet from the tree and were walking up to him.

“Actually, that would be me,” she corrected. She watched as all three of their heads turned left and right, trying to see where her voice came from. Finn was the first one to turn his head up towards where she was standing on the branch, the confusion in his blues eyes clearing as they met her own green ones. The other two, realizing where he was looking, turned around as well, so that they were facing her and the giant tree.

Realizing what she meant, Finn let out a groan and slumped over his skimmer, his posture the picture-perfect image of defeat.

Checking to make sure Radarr had a good grip on her shoulders, Aerrow jumped down from the tree, Radarr jumping down from her shoulders to the ground himself once she landed. She continued, “Which means the last one to touch the tree has to do all the dishes on the Condor - for a month.” At the reminder of the bet all of them made that morning, Piper and Junko pasted large smiles onto their faces and reached out to touch the tree themselves. 

Which only left Stork, the Merb only running up to them now. As soon as he realized he was the last one there, he slowed his run to a walk, stopping just past the parked skimmers. He wasn’t even breathing hard, for all that he had just ran across the town in a handful of minutes. Aerrow kept forgetting that for how stick-thin he was, Stork was incredibly athletic.

Stork gave a sigh and muttered darkly, “See? This is why I never leave the ship.”

Before they had to tease him about his newly-acquired chore, a young voice interrupted them. “Look, Dad! It’s the Storm Hawks!” 

It was a young boy, standing at the edge of the crowd that had gathered at the ruckus she and her squadron were creating. Standing just behind him was a man that had to be his father.

He, like the people around him, kept flicking his eyes between them and their rides, taking in the symbol stitched into their clothing or painted onto their armour and skimmers, proudly displayed for anyone to see, unhesitating in declaring who they were.

His face twisted into a sneer, nothing but disdain visible in his features. “Those aren’t the Storm Hawks. Not the real ones.” He put his hand onto the boy’s shoulder, leading him away from them and back on their way. The boy shot a sad look over his shoulder at them, but he didn’t resist his father’s guiding hand.

Taking this as their cue, the rest of the crowd began to disperse, their faces no less pleased than the father’s had been that Aerrow and the others were claiming to be the Storm Hawks. One man even went so far as to spit at their feet, causing all of them to flinch back as if they had been struck.

Aerrow felt like she had been sucker-punched. While she had expected some people to not be happy that she and her teammates were taking up the Storm Hawks title, she figured that they would just need to prove to the doubters that they were the real deal, that they weren’t just playing at being a Sky Knight and her squadron. She definitely hadn’t expected such an overwhelmingly negative reaction to their mere presence. 

Seeing the devastated looks on Junko’s, Piper’s, and Finn’s faces, the sad one on Radarr’s, and the dark one on Stork’s, Aerrow pushed her shock to the side and put a small smile on her face. Today was supposed to be a good day, and she was determined to keep it that way. And the first step to doing that was to cheer up her friends.

She rested her hand on Piper’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze when sad gold eyes met her own, then made sure to meet everyone else’s gaze. “Don’t let it get to you, alright? We’re here to do something about that, remember?” She tried to keep her tone reassuring.

It must have worked because Piper, Junko, and Radarr regained their smiles, even if they were hesitant. Stork - well, Stork didn’t exactly look happy - but then again, he never really did unless he was talking about something creepy and/or disturbing - but the dark look was off his face, so she would count that as a win. 

“Can we do something about this strange rash, too, while we’re at it?” Yeah, he was fine.

Finn was the only one who remained in a foul mood, trailing behind the rest of them as they made their way to the Sky Kight Council Hall. 

“I still think this is just a huge waste of time,” he muttered, glaring at anyone he thought looked at them wrong.

Aerrow shared a glance with Piper, silently communicating to the other girl that it was her turn to deal with the blond. Piper sighed and rolled her eyes, but she did turn her head so that she could look at him over her shoulder to address him.

“Finn, we’ve gone over this already. Even though Aerrow went through the trials and was rightfully Knighted, we still have to register with the Sky Knight Council to be an official squadron. Really, it’s just a formality at this point.”

“There’s not gonna be a test, right?” Junko piped up. “Because I’m, uh, I’m lousy at tests.”

“If it’s a lab test, I vote him.” That was Stork, pointing at Radarr. Radarr growled at him in response.

“There’s no test,” Aerrow assured as they made their way up the steps to the Hall and into the building proper.

The reception area was a small space, decorated with a desk in the front right corner of the room, a red carpet on the stone floor, and not much else. The walls were painted a warm brown, and there were three hallways in total. Two of them sat opposite to each other and led into the large chambers that served as public meeting rooms, while the last one went straight back and took a left, probably leading to smaller, individual rooms, which would have been used for smaller matters or private discussions and as offices for the Council’s members.

A woman was sitting behind the reception desk, a book propped open in front of her. She didn’t look up from it even though she had to have heard them enter.

Aerrow motioned to her team to stand out of the way of the entrance and wait there, then went up to talk to the other woman.

When she still wasn’t acknowledged, even though she was standing right in front of the desk, she brought her fist up to her mouth and cleared her throat.

The receptionist sighed but put her book down. Disinterested brown eyes glanced up, caught sight of Aerrow, looked her up and down, raised to meet her own. She looked about two seconds away from writing Aerrow off as a teenager trying to cause trouble and going back to her book. “Can I help you?” She obviously thought the answer was going to be no.

“Yes, please. We have an appointment with Chairman Heel,” Aerrow said. The receptionist’s eyebrow climbed upwards, clearly not believing her. “It’s under Aerrow.”

Another sigh. The receptionist reached over and pulled a thick book towards her, opening it and flipping through the pages as she muttered Aerrow’s name. “Ah. Here it is - appointment to see Chairman Heel.”

That’s literally what I just said.

“It’ll be the chamber on your right. He’ll be a few minutes, though. He’s just finishing up some paperwork. You can wait for him in there.” And with that, the receptionist went back to her book.

Thanks for the help, Aerrow thought drily. She motioned for her friends to join her, and together they walked into the public meeting room on the right. It, like the reception room, had a red carpet and brown walls. It also had a podium sitting at the front of the room, positioned to be the center of attention, with rows of wooden chairs divided straight down the middle facing it.

The doors closed behind them.

They immediately went to stand in front of the podium, Aerrow only stopping by Stork long enough to make sure he had the necessary paperwork before she continued on to her own spot.

It was five minutes before Chairman Heel was able to join them. Five minutes of nervous, awkward silence, where they fidgeted with their fingers or played with their hair, and absolutely refused to make any eye contact with anybody else in the room. There was a collective, if unvoiced, sigh of relief when Heel entered the room.

He was a short, old man, with pure white hair, rather large sideburns, and small, circular glasses perched on his nose. He carried with him a rather thick and large book, open in his arms and eyes firmly fixed on it. He climbed the steps to the podium and took his seat, setting the book down on the surface in front of him.

He had yet to look up.

“Aerrow, was it? You wished to register as an official Sky Knight and squadron?” he confirmed. His voice was surprisingly deep.

“Yes, sir.”

He hummed. “And what is your squadron’s name?” He scooted his chair back and opened a drawer, pulling out another book, this one skinnier and with a blue cover. He opened it, reaching for a quill from the pot of ink resting by his side.

“We’re the Storm Hawks, sir.”

That got him to stop.

He took a look at them over his glasses. Hummed under his breath. Finished looking at whatever it was that he needed to. Closed the blue book. “Your registration, please.”

Stork stepped forward to hand it to him. Heel took it, looked it over. Mumbled under his breath while shooting glances at all of them over his glasses. 

She shared nervous looks with everyone else.

Finally: “Everything seems to be in order.” He signed his name at the bottom of the paper, then put it aside so that the large book underneath it was visible to him again. “You understand that this copy of your registration paperwork will have to stay here for our records?”

“Yes, sir.”

He dipped his quill into the ink, then gave them a soft smile. “All I need are your names and positions for the registry.”

One by one, they gave the old man their names and positions in the squadron (with Aerrow introducing Radarr) and he wrote them down into the large tome, occasionally reaching to dip his quill into the ink pot.

With that over, the old man set down the quill and gave them another warm smile.

“The Council will be pleased to hear that somebody has decided to reform the Storm Hawks. Your predecessors were greatly admired by all the free Atmos. But be warned - by taking on this name, you are placing a large burden on your shoulders; there is much to live up to.”

Aerrow breathed in through her nose, took a moment to gather her thoughts and center her emotions, then exhaled. She looked up at Chairman Heel and let her determination bleed through her eyes and fill every nook and cranny she had, until she was standing tall and proud before him, willing and able to take on this responsibility.

“We’re ready.” Her voice was sure.

“Then sign here, please.” He held the quill out to her, so Aerrow stepped forward to take it from him. However, this allowed him to see her through his glasses for the first time, and whatever he saw caused him to jerk the hand holding the quill back towards himself and out of her reach.

His warm smile was replaced by a stern expression. He pressed his glasses up his nose and took another look at all of them, this time through the lenses instead of over the metal frame. He started to frown. “How old are you?” he asked, his tone making it clear that his question was going to be answered, and truthfully at that.

Aerrow’s stomach sank. This couldn’t be happening - not here, not now. She had been so close - literally within grabbing distance - to making them an official squadron!

She must have hesitated too long in answering, because Chairman Heel repeated himself, his tone even more severe.

“Sixteen,” she muttered, looking slightly to the side of him, knowing that she must look angry but unable to press it down. Why did everyone only focus on their age? It wasn’t what defined them as people, and it didn’t mean they were any less skilled at what they did.

So what if they were a little young? They just needed one chance to prove themselves - just one - but everyone seemed intent on stopping them before they even got it!

Some of her bitterness must have leaked through her voice, as the old man’s expression softened, regret filling his eyes. He brought his hand up and rubbed at his neck.

“I’m sorry, Aerrow, but, knowing your age, I can’t, in good conscience, register you and your friends as a squadron. If something were to happen to you…” he trailed off, but it was easy to understand his unvoiced words: I would never forgive myself.

Not able to stop herself in time, Aerrow’s mouth ran away from her, spitting out, “Oh, please. You’re probably more concerned about the black mark your record would gain if you registered us and we wound up dead not long after.”

Yeah - it was the wrong thing to say.

Whatever softness that had been in Heel’s expression disappeared in an instant, his eyes becoming dark with anger. “Watch your tone and words, young lady. While I do acknowledge that my decision does have some political influence in it, my main concern is for your health. The fact of the matter is that this job is a dangerous one, and you would be risking your lives every day to do it. This is not a matter to be treated lightly. While I do know some people that wouldn’t hesitate to send you into battle, the day I send children to die will be a cold day in Hell indeed!” He gathered his things, then stepped down from the podium and went to open the chamber’s doors. “I believe that we’re done here. You can see yourselves out.”

He swept out of the room, not once looking back.

There was a tense silence. Aerrow took a moment to just - breathe. Uncurl her hands from the balled up fists they’d made at some point. Tip her head back, close her eyes, center her emotions.

Then she looked to the left, where all her friends were all looking at any place that wasn’t her, their postures screaming how uncomfortable they were.

She released a sigh, rubbing at the back of her neck. “I’m sorry, guys. I let my temper get the better of me.” That caught their attention, their eyes snapping to her and assessing her facial expression and body language.

Apparently deemed calm enough to approach, they all gathered into a small circle, with Junko putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, giving her a soft smile full of understanding but not saying anything, letting his actions tell her that he forgave her for losing her cool.

“It’s not your fault, Aerrow,” Piper reassured her. “His mind was already made up as soon as he got a good look at us.” At this, all of their expressions turned glum.

Finn gave a scoff and kicked at the ground. “Told you it was a waste of time,” he muttered.

Aerrow gave him a small smile, aware, and grateful, that he was trying to take the attention of her by bringing it on to himself. He caught her gaze and returned it, his lips turning up the smallest bit at the corners.

“It’s fine,” she said. All of them gave her incredulous looks. “Okay, well no, it’s not fine fine, but it will be. Even though we’re not official, I’m still a Sky Knight, you’re still my squadron, and we’re still friends, right?”

As she said this, she started walking out of the chamber herself, the others falling into step beside and behind her, all of them making their way, together, out of the hall and into the bright afternoon sunlight.

“Oh, I’m only here until something better comes along,” Stork interjected.

They all ignored him, used to him making similar comments. They all knew it was a bluff on his part, and Stork knew that they knew. If he really wanted to leave them, he would have left already. Still, they humoured him by not calling him out on it whenever he muttered about packing up and abandoning ship - or rather, in his case, abandoning them and taking the ship with him when he left.

“See? We’re fine,” said Aerrow.

“I just wish people would take us seriously!” That was Piper, which was surprising. Normally she had a tight leash on her emotions, and she was rarely one for outbursts of any type. She continued on, “We’re not just kids! Is it really that hard to look past our age?” The last part was directed at them, as if she thought that they knew the answer to it.

All Aerrow could do was shrug. She didn’t understand what age had to do with skill, either. She figured that completing the Trials should have been able to speak for itself - they weren't exactly easy to accomplish, even for adults, and it wasn’t like someone could cheat their way through them.

“I guess some adults just don’t want to acknowledge that someone younger could be better than them at something,” Finn said.

Aerrow, not wanting to linger any more on the bitter feelings that were wanting to well back up inside her, tried to quickly think of something that would take her mind off the topic. Thankfully, something came to mind almost immediately.

“C’mon guys, we need to get going. We still need to restock our supplies, remember? Now, who’s going to be getting what?” She clapped her hands together in front of her, a deceptively innocent smile on her face as she twirled around to face her squadron, all of them suddenly keen on looking in any direction that didn’t leave her in their line of sight.

Sometimes it was just so much fun to watch them squirm. They all knew what really sucked about the supply runs; not the actual shopping part - that could actually be quite fun, depending on what they needed to get. No, what nobody wanted to do was what came after the shopping was over - namely, the loading. Aerrow could safely say that loading a minimum of twenty heavy crates full of supplies, ranging anywhere from food to parts for their skimmers, was something that all of them tried to avoid to the best of their abilities. Nobody, and she meant nobody, wanted to be the one lifting all those crates.

The sound of multiple skimmer engines stopped them from answering, all of them eagerly abandoning her to see where the noise was coming from.

People had started to gather along the sides of the street to their left, large, excited smiles gracing their faces as the sound of engines became even louder, indicating that the drivers were coming in their direction. Her curiosity growing, Aerrow went to join her team, all of them standing on the outskirts of the crowd, their position allowing them to see what was going on without needing to wade into the thick of it.

As soon as five skimmers turned the corner to come fully into view of the crowd, a giant cheer went up from everyone present, some people even beginning to clap. She wasn’t sure why they were - until she caught sight of red and purple uniforms and armour decorated with a painted red eagle.

All at once, the disappointment of the day was washed away, excitement bubbling up in her chest because there, coming towards them, was -

“That’s Carver and the Red Eagles!” Junko exclaimed, awe laced through his voice.

Aerrow nodded robotically, mind still reeling from the idea that she could meet Carver, the Carver. He was literally only a few meters away now. All she had to do was take a few steps - 

Piper placed her hands on her shoulders, steering Aerrow forward towards the other Sky Knight. “Come on, guys!” she called. “Let’s go meet them!”

The Red Eagles had stopped in the middle of the crowd, allowing the fans to come close to get pictures, receive autographs, and chat with all the members of the squadron. The boy from before was even allowed to touch Carver’s skimmer, his dad standing behind him proudly. 

When the dad caught sight of them, his smile gained a rather nasty edge. Once more he put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, leaning down to tell him, “You see, son? Now there’s a real Sky Knight.” Though he addressed the boy, he made sure to pitch his voice, letting it carry towards them.

His comment caught Carver’s attention, his head turning towards them as they approached.

It wasn’t how she wanted to get his attention, but she supposed that it would have to do. She stretched her arm out, offering him her hand to shake, sure she must have looked dumb-struck but not caring because it was Carver and - 

Words! She needed words. She needed to say something to him before she looked like an even bigger idiot. Think - think! It’s not that hard to talk! Oh for the love of God just say something already-!

“I’m Aerrow.” That worked. She even managed to sound normal. Then, realizing how little that would actually mean to him, she hastened to add on, ”Of the Storm Hawks.” Here, she gestured behind her with her left hand (her right still held out for a handshake), motioning to the rest of her friends. “It’s an honour to meet you.” 

His gaze darted over her figure briefly, then behind her to take in her squadron. He scoffed, turning back to her. “Aren’t you a little young to be a Sky Knight, kid?” he mocked. He turned so that he was facing forwards on his skimmer once more, clearly indicating that he was done talking to her.

Around her, the crowd parted to either side of his squadron, clearing a path for them so that they could peel out without risk of hitting anyone.

Carver gestured to the rest of his squadron, and all five of them drove off, headed in the direction of the tower that was just a few minutes drive outside of town. When the squadron was no longer in view, the crowd dispersed, going back to their daily activities.

Aerrow stood there, gaping, staring after Carver and the others, hand still extended.

And oh look, her anger was back, welling up inside her until it strangled all other emotions she might have been feeling and leaving her seeing red. She bit back the curses she wanted to yell after Carver, knowing he was well out of hearing range and that doing so would just reinforce the idea that they were too young to be a proper squadron in people’s minds. She could practically hear it now: ‘Did you see the way she threw a tantrum?’, and, ‘She acts out like that and still seriously expects us to think that she’s actually a Sky Knight?’.

No, she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing her break - so she swallowed the bitter pill that was life, straightened her back, and let her face remain passive on the outside (no matter how much she was raging on the inside). “Storm Hawks,” she said - calm, cool, collected. “We’ll do a quick shop around the town - together, as a group - and then we’re leaving. First up is clothing and toiletry supplies, then crystals, repair parts, and food. After that, we can see about looking for anything that we want to have but isn’t a necessity. Let’s go.”

She stalked over to their skimmers, her friends trailing behind her but choosing to remain silent. While the others got onto their rides (Stork sitting behind Finn), Aerrow climbed the tree to get to her own, starting it and popping off the branch and onto the ground, where Radarr jumped into his sidecar. Once he was secure, she pulled out, perhaps a little more quickly than was needed.

And if she happened to see the father of the little boy standing close to the edge of the road - the little boy off to the side looking at something that had caught his eye - and making a perfect target of himself? Well, she definitely acted like the mature young adult she was; and she definitely didn’t purposely accelerate when she passed him, kicking up a cloud of dust in his direction, causing him to fall into a coughing fit when he breathed it in. No, that definitely only happened because she was so young and clearly didn’t know how to drive her skimmer properly.

She smirked to herself when she heard Radarr snicker.

They hadn’t even been at the clothing stall - looking for material that was both more sturdy and breathed better than what their current uniforms were made out of - for a half-hour when everything suddenly went to hell.

In a matter of seconds, the previously bright, clear sky darkened into a dark black, as if it had suddenly changed its mind and decided that it was actually supposed to be the middle of the night, rather than being in the middle of the day, and that the weather forecast had actually called for thunderclouds. What was a calm, cooling breeze picked up, whipping clothes and hair around in a strong, persistent gale. Anything light enough that wasn’t tacked down was flipped onto its side and then pushed along the ground, leading to mass confusion as people tried to chase down their wayward possessions.

It was Junko who brought their attention to the problem. “Umm, is the light from the Tower supposed to go out?” he asked, pointing to emphasize what he meant. And, indeed, the Tower was missing its characteristic blinding blue glow, instead standing - Aerrow wanted to say that it looked vacant, as if it had had its soul removed and was now just an empty shell of its former self.

“Something must be wrong with the Aurora Stone,” Piper said, eyes narrowed at the Tower.

Aerrow took a quick glance around her: people had started to gather in groups, their unease growing as more and more of them started to realize why the weather had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. Panic was making its way into their systems, and that wasn’t a good thing. A horde of panicking civilians wasn’t something Aerrow wanted to deal with, so she quickly made up her mind. While these people hadn’t been accepting or welcoming, it was still her job to make sure they were safe, and her personal opinion wasn’t going to stop her from doing the right thing.

“Guys!” she called to get her friends’ attention. “Get on your rides. We’re going to go see what’s wrong.” She headed at a run to where they had parked their skimmers, jumping on to it and kicking up the kickstand. Radarr landed on his own seat shortly after, and as soon as she was sure he was secure, she floored it, trusting her squadron to be right on her tail as she sped out of the city to the Tower.

With how quickly they were driving, they managed to cut down the three-minute drive to about half that. They skidded to a stop a short distance away from the Tower’s doors, taking a moment to take everything in.

“What happened?” Finn asked, incredulous. And he had the right to be, because there, in front of the doors to the Tower, were all the members of the Red Eagles, barring Carver, stood frozen completely solid, all of them looking like they had been trying to defend themselves from a surprise attack. The doors themselves had been blasted inwards.

Aerrow hopped off of her Ultra, cautiously approaching the entrance doors and the people frozen around them, keeping a wary eye on her surroundings in case whatever had caused the damage was still around and looking to start a fight with someone new.

“Whatever did this has to be powerful,” Piper commented, a statement and caution rolled together.

“Then we’ll take this slowly,” Aerrow responded, motioning to Finn to take out his crossbow and keep it at the ready. Once the weapon was in his hands, the group eased their way into the tower and up the many flights of steps, stopping regularly to see if they could hear anything moving around above them. When no such sounds came, they continued on, repeating this process until they reached the final landing that led into the room that housed the Aurora Stone.

They crept closer, stopping once they were at the door, which was left swinging open, to peek into the observation room. Everything about it looked normal, if darker, since the only light in the room came from either outside or from the Stone itself. Quietly, they shuffled in one by one. The windows that allowed natural light in and the Stone’s light out were all undamaged, and there were no signs that a fight had taken place. At the center of the circular room stood the Aurora Stone’s containment unit; the only problem was that -

“The Aurora Stone is gone!” Piper gasped.

A chuckle came from their left. A low voice said, “You needn’t worry.”

Aerrow whipped around so that she could face whoever had talked, hands automatically reaching for the blades she kept sheathed on her shoulder blades. They paused before they touched the hilts though, as the figure standing by the window turned to face them.

“Carver?” Aerrow asked. He looked completely fine, not a scratch on him, and he was holding the Aurora Crystal in his left hand, which also looked completely undamaged. While she should have been feeling relieved that the stone was fine and he was unhurt, she mostly felt uneasy. She didn’t know why, but something about what was happening just wasn’t sitting right with her.

She shook herself, pushing her unease to the side for the moment. What mattered was that both Carver and the crystal were okay. “Did you get whoever or whatever it was that attacked you?” she asked, scanning the room again to see if she had missed another person in the room due to the poor lighting. The attacker was probably on the ground somewhere, unconscious or tied up or some combination of the two.

Carver must have seen her looking around, as he interrupted her search. “There’s no one else here, Aerrow.”

“They got away, then?”

Carver gave an aggravated sigh, as if she was a particularly stupid child that he had to explain everything little thing to in order for her to understand anything. “There was no attacker, Aerrow.”

The unease was back with a vengeance.

“What do you mean ‘there was no attacker’?” she demanded, not liking where this was going.

“Oh come now, Aerrow. Can you really not read between the lines?” he mocked. “I mean, I know you’re young, but you can’t really be this naive, can you?”

“Oh, I can read between the lines just fine,” she snapped back, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. What she wouldn’t give to punch that smirk off his face. “Excuse me for needing a little bit of time to wrap my head around the fact that one of the best Sky Knights of our time is a fucking traitor.”

“Hmm, I guess that’s fair,” he conceded, walking to the center of the room. “No one wants to believe that one of their one would go to the other side. But I’ll let you guys in on a secret - it’s something I’ve learned over these past few years.” Here, he adopted an almost boastful tone. “The best way to stay alive? It’s to be smart about your actions. You need to know when it’s okay to stay and fight, to hold your ground and not back down. But you also need to know the opposite, too. You need to know when it’s time to throw in the towel.” 

He paused to gesture at the windows of the tower and everything that laid beyond them. “Every day the Cyclonians gain more territory. Sky Knights and squadrons may as well be a dying breed for how quickly they’re falling. People know that this war is coming to a close, but they refuse to admit to themselves that they picked the wrong side. They choose to live in their delusions that someone is going to come sweeping in to save them. But me? I’m no fool. I was wise enough to see that the winds are changing. And when I was given a chance to be on the winning side, I didn’t hesitate to take it.”

He held up the Aurora Stone, twisting it left and right like he needed to get a good look at it. Then, apparently done with its examination, he clipped it onto the side of his belt, reaching behind him to grab his weapon and bring it out into view. He didn’t activate its crystal, but the threat was clear.

Immediately, Aerrow’s own hands unclenched from the fists they’d balled into, reaching to finally draw out her own daggers. She, unlike Carver, did activate the crystals at the end of them, bringing them to life and casting the room in a bright blue glow. She got into a ready position but didn’t actually move forward, waiting to see if Carver was going to make the first move.

Carver’s face became stormy, clearly not having expected her to draw her own blades; he probably thought that she’d have stepped aside, chosen her life over doing the right thing. Well, did Aerrow have news for him; she wasn’t planning on just rolling over and letting Cyclonis and Cyclonia walk all over her. And she sure as hell wasn’t just going to let that bastard walk out of this room without working for it.

“You’re foolish, girl. The future is Master Cyclonis, and this stone belongs to her.” His voice was dark and dripping with malice, his patience for this little confrontation almost gone.

“The hell it does!”

She didn’t give him the chance to say anything else, launching herself into the air and into a forward somersault, gaining as much power she could to bring both of her daggers down onto Carver’s sword (now glowing red with the power of his crystal), hoping to force him to drop it.

Carver didn’t drop it, instead redirecting her attack, pushing upwards and sideways with enough power that she was launched towards one of the pillars in the room, forcing her to flip herself around to land on it feet-first, then doing another somersault on the way down so that she could land cleanly on her feet in a crouch.

Carver straightened from his crouch as Aerrow rose from hers. He regarded her cooly for a second, face unreadable, before the corners of his lips tugged up in a smirk. He raised his left arm, palm pointed at the ceiling, and curled all his fingers towards him, giving her the universal gesture to ‘bring it’. Meanwhile, his right arm stayed down and at his side, demonstrating just how much of a threat he thought she was - that is, not at all.

Aerrow snarled at him, rushing towards him again. Their weapons met in a fierce clash of blue and red sparks, Aerrow bearing down on his sword as hard as she could with her own two daggers while he strained to keep them away from himself. They stayed locked in that position for a couple of seconds, neither budging so much as an inch, before Carver abruptly pulled back, leaving Aerrow to stumble forward a quick step.

She righted herself quickly enough to notice him finishing his spin to do a backflip, the kick he threw at the end of it only grazing her instead of connecting solidly with her stomach.

She rushed forward again, leaping into the air to bring her foot down on him - but he grabbed it, using her momentum against her as he twisted to the side, throwing her to the ground. She landed on her side with an ‘oof!’ and skidded a few feet away, groaning at the pain in her sides. She barely registered the concerned cries from her friends, too busy keeping her attention on Carver. But he didn’t push his advantage, instead choosing to stand back and watch her next move.

Okay, obviously straight-out attacking him wasn’t working, so it was time to switch gears. Which meant she needed to say something to distract him, say something that could throw him off his game so she could get a good hit in.

Come on, Aerrow, she thought to herself. There has to be something. His combat technique? No, that’s out considering he's, y’know, winning. Um, his looks? No, that won’t work either - he’s hot (her eyes worked, okay?) and he knows it. What about-? Yeah, that could work.

“You know, Carver,” she said, taking on a casual tone, “for all that you like to toot your own horn that you’re super wise for abandoning ship, I think we both know you’re just spewing whatever bullshit comes to mind-” like she was doing right this moment “- to hide the fact that your actions show you as you are - a coward.”

The smirk that had been on his face was wiped clean off, a thunderous expression taking over and a vein in his temple throbbing.

Bingo!

“Face it, Carver - instead of standing your ground, you turned your back on the people who trusted you and you ran away,” she continued, taking her chance to get back on her feet, weapons once again at the ready. “You didn’t do the wise thing, or the right thing; you took the easy way out because you’re weak, and spineless, and pathetic. You made an oath to protect the people of Atmos, and you should have been willing to die before you broke it.” All through her rant, energy seemed to come pouring into her, replacing her previous anger with a burning determination. She gripped her daggers’ hilts with renewed strength, ready to go again after getting her second wind.

Except - Carver wasn’t mad anymore. In fact, he was back to smirking at her, his cockiness once again draped over his shoulders like a cape.

“Oh, that’s right!” he exclaimed. “I’d forgotten - you fancy yourself a Sky Knight. Well I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you’re just a bunch of kids.” He made sure to make his tone as patronizing as possible, trying to rile her up like she had him just a moment ago.

And the worst part was that it was working. She was getting really fucking tired of people dismissing her because of her age. She was a Sky Knight, dammit!

In response to her anger and frustration, the energy spiked higher, reaching a crescendo that sang to her, begging her to use it, all she had to do was surrender herself to it for just a moment, just a few seconds and it would show her how - all she had to do was trust it and fall - it would catch her - it promised -

So she did. 

She closed her eyes and let the energy snapping through her veins loose, could feel it pouring off her until it was almost tangible, making her feel stronger than she ever had before.

Her eyes opened even as she let the energy guide her actions, let it teach her how to unleash it. She leapt up, feeling weightless and like gravity would never sink its claws into her again, twisting in the air until she reached the peak of her jump, where she pulled her arms and legs behind her - her arms so that her blades rested around where she normally had them when they were sheathed, and her legs so that her heels were out to the side but still parallel with her upper thighs. She swung her arms up and over her head so that her daggers met in front of her when her arms were fully extended - almost like she was going to do a bump to return a volleyball - and her legs extended to do a horizontal split. She bent at the waist as she did both of these things, leading to her arms being centered in between her legs by the time the energy was released in a burst.

She watched as the energy blast sailed straight at Carver’s chest, hitting him with enough force that his feet left the ground. He sailed into the podium at the center of the room, cracking his head against its stone floor, not quite unconscious but soon to be there. No longer able to hold up his sword, it clattered to the ground beside him.

It all happened so quickly - one moment she was on the ground, then next in the air, and then she was back on the ground before she even realized what, exactly, it was that she had just done. For all that it felt like everything was moving in slow motion, she knew that only a couple seconds had passed.

With the last of his strength, Carver reached out his right arm in her direction. “That - that was-” he gasped. He was unconscious before he could finish his sentence, his head lolling backwards.

Aerrow stood there and gaped at him, then at her hands and daggers, then at him again.

There was complete silence for a beat, then two - and then her friends broke into loud cheering, rushing towards her to give her fist bumps and throw their arms over her shoulders and ruffle her hair, Aerrow not hesitating to join in because she just won and the crystal was safe and she had done it, holy crap!

“When’s the last time you saw a kid do that!” Piper crowed to the unconscious Carver, smug as smug can be. Then she turned back to Aerrow, hardly able to contain her excitement. “Aerrow, you did it! That’s -”

“The Lightning Claw,” Aerrow interrupted, still staring at her hands and daggers in disbelief. “Huh.” She gave her head a shake, sheathing her daggers. Finally, the realization sunk in, and she didn’t bother trying to stop the smile that bloomed on her face, large enough that it was hurting her cheeks. “I guess I finally figured out my Move.”

Finn gave her another slap on the shoulder. “We’re definitely the real deal now, dude!” His eyes caught on the slumped form of Carver. “What are we gonna do with him?” he asked, jerking his chin at the man.

“Well, first things first.” Aerrow approached Carver, crouching down so that she could unclip the Aurora Stone from his belt. She stood, crystal safely cradled in her hands, and climbed the podium so that she could place it back into its containment unit.

Once there, it immediately started to glow even brighter. Sunlight came streaming in through the windows, the bad weather clearing in an instant and going back to what it had been before.

That done, she turned to face her squadron again. “Finn, take your skimmer into town to go get the police. I don’t know how long he’ll be unconscious and I don’t want to risk him waking up while we’re on our skimmers.” Finn gave a salute and rushed out of the room. “The rest of you, help me take a look around to see if there’s anything here we can restrain him with. I don’t want to give him a chance to escape.”

Radarr was the one to find the rope a couple minutes later, and Stork the one to tie Carver’s hands together behind his back, since he was the best at knots out of the group. While they were at it, they also checked to see if there was any blood in Carver’s hair or on the ground behind him, since he had hit his head rather hard. They didn’t like him, sure, but they also didn’t want him to die or suffer any serious head injuries. There wasn’t, so hopefully the knock his head took wasn’t too bad.

Finn came back only a couple of minutes after that, surprisingly - she figured he would have been gone for at least five - but he was leading a group of officers and a paramedic (who immediately went to check on Carver, as he was the only one unconscious and no one else was seriously injured). Aerrow shot him a confused look and got a shrug in return.

“I met them on the road. They were already on their way,” he explained. Which - it made sense. There was no way they wouldn’t have come to investigate if something had happened to the Aurora Stone.

At that point the paramedic, who had finished looking over Carver, came over to her instead, insisting that Aerrow needed to be looked over for any injuries. But besides being sore all over, she was given a clean bill of health. The others didn’t have to worry about being poked and prodded, as they hadn’t done any fighting.

The police took over then, separating the Storm Hawks so that they could be questioned on the events that took place. During this time, Carver had finally come to. He was promptly put into real handcuffs (this time with his hands in front of him). He refused to answer any questions the police asked him, keeping his mouth firmly shut.

All-in-all, they probably stayed in that room for about an hour before the police were ready to let them go and lead Carver downstairs. The Storm Hawks left the room first, but they loitered outside the tower, talking amongst themselves, waiting for Carver to be led outside and into the police car. The bodies of the other Red Eagles were gone, probably having been transferred to the morgue already.

They weren’t the only ones waiting outside, either. A small group of curious on-lookers had gathered during the time they were upstairs, talking to each other in hushed whispers and shooting regular glances at the entrance of the tower. A news crew had also set up, their anchor going over whatever the police had given as a statement.

When Carver was finally led out, a guard positioned on either side of him, a sudden hush overtook everyone present. It lasted only a beat, then murmuring broke back out, these conversations slightly louder than the ones that had been taking place before. The camera spun to capture Carver even as the anchor started to make his way to the senior officer on the scene, hoping to receive an updated statement.

Through it all, Carver kept a blank face, not reacting to the insults hurled at him or the questions being shouted, everyone wanting an answer to ‘why?’. At least, he was calm until he caught sight of Aerrow and her friends. Then his eyes went manic, seeming to hyperfixate on them and nothing else. He lunged towards them, his guards barely having enough time to grab his arms before he made it out of their reach. “The worst is yet to come! Cyclonia will rise again!” he raved at them, spittle flying from his mouth.

He was still ranting by the time they closed the police car’s door in his face, the sudden quiet unsettling once his yelling was muffled.

“How did no one notice he was crazy, again?” Finn muttered to them, but not quitely enough judging by the glares they were now receiving from the closest group of observers. He received an elbow to the side for his troubles, courtesy of Piper.

Thankfully, that interaction wasn’t given any more time to evolve into a fight as somebody called out, “Storm Hawks!”

Three old men were approaching them, one of whom was Chairman Heel. He continued approaching them, but the other two men - probably members of the Council - stayed a few paces away.

Quickly, they all straightened their postures to something more respectable for formal conversations. “Hello, Chairman Heel,” Aerrow greeted.

“I’m happy that we were able to catch you before you left. Would you do us the favour of following us back to Council Hall? We’d like a word with you,” he explained.

All of them shared a quick glance. “We’d be happy to,” Aerrow said.

“Excellent. We’ll be leaving in a few short minutes, so it would probably be best for you to wrap anything else you have to do up.” He gave them all a nod, then walked back to his two companions.

Finn nudged Junko, who was standing beside him. “I bet this is the part where they beg us to protect the terra,” he said with a smirk.

“Get help?! I can’t believe all they want us to do is go get help!” Finn threw his hands up into the air, waving them to emphasize his words while pacing in front of the circular table.

Normally, Aerrow would be on his side. But he had been complaining ever since they got back onto the Condor. At this point, it was getting annoying.

The meeting with Chairman Heel and the other Council members had taken up most of the afternoon hours, leaving the Storm Hawks with only a short amount of time to restock their supplies. They had practically been a whirlwind in their shopping spree, only staying at any one stall as long as necessary and never longer. Even then they had barely managed to buy everything they needed before the vendors were packing up and closing their stalls.

After they had finished loading their supplies onto the Condor, they gathered together in the kitchen to make an early supper, something quick and easy so that they could have more time to plan their route for the next day.

Well, technically it was Piper who was planning their route, since she was the one in charge of tactics and navigation. They were just there for her to bounce ideas off of until she made her mind up about what course they were going to take in the morning.

So here they were, all of them sitting (sans Piper, who was standing) around the circular table of the common room (aka the bridge of the Condor), the maps spread out over it almost completely covering the Storm Hawks symbol, along with a list of who had volunteered to protect Atmosia until another squadron was ready and where their home terra was.

Finn, however, was making things difficult for everyone. Instead of taking part in the discussion, he kept complaining about the injustice of them being used as a “glorified shuttle”.

Aerrow brought a hand up to rub at her temple. They had been talking about their route for the past couple of hours. A headache was starting to creep in and Finn’s (loud) whining wasn’t helping. At this point, all she wanted to do was finish this meeting, take a shower, then crawl into bed so that she could pass out. It was going to be an early morning tomorrow, and she planned on getting as much sleep as possible.

Piper, clearly done with Finn, finally snapped. She threw her pencil down, straightening back up from where she had been leaning over the table and pouring over the maps.

“Finn!” she napped. Finn, having been about to start his whining again, wisely closed his mouth and kept silent. “I will say this one more time, and after that I don’t want to hear another word from you unless it’s to help, got it?” He nodded meekly, cowed. “Thanks to Carver, there’s no one here to protect terra Atmosia or the Aurora Stone. Not only that, but we’ve been personally assigned a mission from the Sky Knight Council itself. Do you realize how important that is?”

Finn crossed his arms over his chest but remained silent, clearly understanding that Piper was being rhetorical and didn’t actually want him to answer.

Aerrow took the chance to insert herself into the conversation. “Which is why we’ll bring in reinforcements like they asked. This is the chance that we need to prove that we’re not just a bunch of kids, and I’m not willing to screw it up. Are you?” Finn shook his head. “Good. Because once we were dismissed, Chairman Heel pulled me aside for a quick word.”

At this, everyone perked up, turning towards her. They had seen him pull her aside after the meeting with the other councilors was over, but she had deflected all their questions when they asked her what he wanted to talk to her about, telling her friends that she would spill everything once they were on the Condor.

“Chairman Heel was kind enough to offer us a deal,” Aerrow continued. “He told me that if we managed to complete this mission in a timely fashion, with minimum to no problems, then he would be willing to accept our registration as a squadron.”

With every word spoken, the eyes fixed on her grew wider and wider, smiles slowly starting to break across the Storm Hawks’ faces (except Stork, who continued to look shocked and nothing else). Before the last syllable had even fallen from her lips, her friends had started to celebrate. Radarr was doing a little dance from his spot on the couch, Finn and Junko were giving each other high-fives and noogies, and Piper was clapping her hands together excitedly.

“But!” she continued, raising her voice to be heard over their cheers. “But it would only be a sort of parole position as a squadron.” Her heart gave a twinge when she saw their smiles shrink, their utter happiness now marred by a streak of sadness. “I know it’s not what we wanted.” And boy did she, because nothing hurt quite like having her hope stepped on, having their dream be within grabbing distance, only to have it be pushed back father and father from their reach right when they were about to grab it. “But it’ll get our foot in the door. At least it’s a chance for us. The more missions we complete after this, the more they’ll see that we’re ready to be a squadron - a real one, no ‘if's’ or ‘but’s about it. It’ll take some time,” she admitted, giving them all a soft smile, “but we’ll get there.”

They all visibly perked back up at that, even Stork.

Aerrow stood, stretching. “As for now, I think it’s safe to say that this team meeting is over.” She shot a glance over to Piper, seeing if the other girl was okay with that, or if she would dispute it because she still needed to bounce ideas off of them. Piper shook her head, already starting to gather the maps so that she could bring them to her room. No doubt she would be looking over their plan once or twice more, perfectionist that she was.

Aerrow shot her a quick smile, reaching down to rub Radarr’s head when she passed him on her way out of the common room, intent on finding the bathroom closest to her bedroom so she could make good on that shower.

Waking up was hell. 

Aerrow opened her eyes, somehow feeling like she had both slept too much and not enough at the same time. She rolled over, muffling her groan into her pillow, her alarm clock still beeping annoyingly in her ear.

Finally gathering her will, Aerrow rolled back over and swung her legs over the edge of her bed. Her arm shot out, turning off the beeping. She stood, rubbing at her eyes, then took a glance at her alarm clock. 6:00 flashed back at her, mocking.

She scowled at it, as if it was the clock’s fault she had to be up so early. She let out another groan, pouting to herself at the lack of a sleep-in, but dutifully set about doing her morning routine now that she was up and standing.

A half-hour later found her walking into the kitchen, hair freshly braided and teeth freshly brushed. Piper was already up - she was one of those freaky morning people - as well as Stork - Merbs generally needed less sleep than humans, so he normally stayed up later than the rest of them and rose before them. None of the others were present, but she had made sure to check that they were up before coming to breakfast herself.

“Morning,” she greeted, taking the plate of pancakes Piper handed to her with a thanks. She made her way to the kitchen table, which was covered in a variety of toppings for the pancakes, such as fruits, syrup, and whipping cream, as well as juice, water, milk, and tea for drinks. She set her plate down next to Stork’s, pulling her chair out and bumping his shoulder with her own after she plopped herself down.

He glanced up briefly and gave her a nod, then immediately went back to his book.

Slowly the others trickled in, each calling out (or chirping in Radarr’s case) a good morning with varying levels of enthusiasm.  Each collected a plate from Piper that was stacked with food, then made their way to their own seats, Piper only sitting down to join them once the others had collected their plates.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, no one really up for talking, still tired from the early wake up call. Once they were finished eating, Junko and Aerrow  took the dirty plates to the sink so that Junko could wash them and Aerrow could dry them and put them away. Finn and Radarr disappeared somewhere, while Piper went to her room to grab whatever map she would need for their morning meeting. Stork made his way to the Condor’s controls, where he would get them up into the air and start them flying in whichever general direction Piper pointed him in.

Once the Condor was on its way and the dishes were clean and put in their proper places, Aerrow and Junko made their way to the bridge. They’d be having one last look at the course that Piper had plotted, and then they’d get to work on chores and repairs while they flew to pick up the first of many volunteers.

By the time she and Junko walked into the bride, Piper had already set up an easel and a map, with the other three standing around it, fiddling with the pointer in her hands as she waited until everyone was present before she started to talk.

Aerrow claimed a spot in between Finn (who was carrying a surfboard, for who knew what reason) and Radarr, while Junko went to stand a little farther right of the group.

Piper wasted no time in starting, flicking her pointer stick onto the map as she outlined their plan. “We’ll be stopping at Terra Blusteria first to meet Joel of the Buff Busters, and then we’ll be off to Tropica - and no Finn, a surfing break is out of the question.” Here she paused to give Finn the “I’m watching you” hand gesture.

Finn pouted, surfboard drooping as he slouched, grumbling as he turned around to prop it on the table behind them.

“I don’t see the big deal about some dumb crystal anyway,” he muttered, fingers fluttering at the word ‘crystal’, dismissing the Aurora Stone as if it were some random gem they could find at any old market and not the most powerful crystal ever found.

“The Aurora Stone is the very symbol of Atmos,” Piper deadpanned, hand rubbing at her temples.

“It’s also the most powerful crystal ever found,” Aerrow added, because even she knew that and her interest in crystals was almost non-existent. “There’s no telling what Master Cyclonis would do with it.” And call her crazy, but she wasn’t very eager to find out.

Of course Stork, being himself, was always eager to add in his two cents when it came to death and destruction. “Let’s not forget the eternal darkness, plague of evil, and -“ he whipped out a human skull from nowhere ( where did he-?) “- endless suffering that would certainly follow.”

He’d barely stashed the skull away again ( seriously, where ?) before the Condor’s alarms started blaring. Stork twitched, eyes flickering around them quickly before he reached for one of his many periscopes to see what had set off their alarms. “Maybe it’s starting already.” There was a couple seconds of silence. “Yup, I was right,” he muttered, pulling back and handing the periscope to Aerrow so she could take a look at whatever was out there.

Let’s see. Cloud, cloud, more clou- oh. Well that’s not good. Aerrow pulled back, heart fluttering and stomach sinking, breakfast not sitting very well anymore. She turned to the others, mouth dry.

“Talons and a battle cruiser,” she told them. Their expressions took on the edge of panic that she felt. “They’re heading for Atmosia. There won’t be enough time to get help. We’re going to have to handle this - alone.”

Stork slid over to Piper, both of them grimacing, while Finn and Junko traded a nervous look, eyes wide. Aerrow didn’t blame them. She’d be trading looks with the others herself if she wasn’t the leader. They weren’t exactly novices when it came to fighting Talons, but they were still far from veterans. Their fights were always few and far between, and they never took on more than a small squad’s worth at a time.

Seeing dozens of Talons and a battle cruiser all at once? Especially as their first major battle? Yeah, it was jarring. Still, she needed to put on a brave face. She pushed her queasiness to the side so that she could focus on getting the job done.

“Piper and Stork, you’ll stay here. The Condor is going to need to take on that cruiser to keep it off of us,” she directed. Piper and Stork nodded, running over to the Condor’s controls. Aerrow then turned to Junko, Finn, and Radarr. “You guys are with me. We’re going to be the ones engaging the fliers. We have five minutes at most before they’re going to be on us, so grab everything you need because ready or not, it’ll be wheels up when they do.”

Together they sprinted down the corridor located on the left side of the bridge, following it all the way back until they hit the hatch in the floor, climbing down two flights to reach the hangar, where their skimmers, armour, and weapons were stored. All the while, the alarms kept blaring, a reminder to keep moving, that their time was limited.

They raced over to the cabinet that housed their armour. Pieces were quickly taken out and handed over to their proper owners. Armour was placed onto shoulders, forearms, chests, stomachs, thighs, knees, and shins, held in place by small, thinly-sliced sticking crystals dotted along the back of the armour. 

While Junko put on his knuckle busters and Finn loaded up his energy crossbow, Aerrow slotted her daggers into place on her back. Then she went to help Radarr pack various tools and gadgets into his own pack, only taking a break from that to tell Finn to put some of the weapons he was attaching to his skimmer back.

“You know she’s right, Finn,” Junko said when Finn tried to weasel his way out of it. He was by his own Air III EL, loading missiles into their spots under the wings. “That thing is never going to fly.”

Finn hesitated, looking back and forth between them and his Air III, which was entirely covered by ammo and weapons, only his seat not covered by either. Finally he shrugged, taking everything off of it except for a small bag of energy crystals, which he left hanging from his handles, probably as refills in case the ones currently in this crossbow ran out of juice. 

Aerrow nodded her approval, turning back to Radarr and his bag.

In what felt like both no time at all and an eternity later, Piper was turning off the alarms and telling them to mount their skimmers and turn them to face the hangar’s doors.

Aerrow watched, hands clammy and heart fluttering anxiously again, as the doors pulled apart, letting the air through, howling as it gusted against them, tugging at their hair.

“ Standby. Launching in T minus thirty seconds,” came Piper’s voice over the intercom.

Aerrow took the chance to shoot a quick look at her three friends, hoping and praying that this wouldn’t be the last time that she would see any of them alive. 

Should she do a speech? If this was a movie, the captain or whoever would be making a speech right now, right? Something that would give the people following them into battle hope, something that would put smiles on their faces even as they were going to war. 

Ah, screw it, she may as well.

“So nobody believes in us, huh?” she said, catching the attention of everyone in the hangar. “Well now’s the time to prove them wrong.” As she kept talking, the more confidence she gained, some of the worry of what was about to happen being replaced by confidence. “But this isn’t like when we play ‘Stop the Sky Knight’ or ‘Last One Does the Dishes’ - this is the real deal. So whatever you do -” and here she trailed off, unsure of where exactly she was going with this. “Um… try not… to… mess up?” she finished lamely, voice tilting up at the end, cringing. 

Yeah, she really didn’t think that one through.

“Dude,” Finn said, ”worst motivational speech ever.” Yes, thank you, Finn, she realized that.

“ T minus five seconds, guys!”

Aerrow rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “You know what I meant.”

“ Go!”

“Let’s do this!” Aerrow exclaimed. She gunned it, peeling out of the hangar at top speed and Finn and Junko on her heels. Her wings were deployed almost as soon as her back wheel left the flight deck, courtesy of Radarr, and together the four of them made their way to the approaching Talons and battle cruiser, Aerrow taking point.

“Just remember the plan and we’ll be fine!” she called back to them, turning her head slightly to the side so that the sound could carry back to Junko and Finn.

“I - uh - I forgot the plan!” Junko called, nerves clear in his voice.

“Keep them off that terra.” That was Finn, which was nice. He and Junko were closest to each other, and any words of reassurance from Finn would be sure to calm Junko down better than if they came from her.

The distance between her squad and the Cyclonians was closing quickly, giving them the opportunity to get a better look at what they were up against. The first was, of course, the enemy’s overwhelming numbers. Everywhere she looked she saw nothing but Talons, Talons, and more Talons. The good news, though, was that they all seemed to be just regular foot soldiers.

No, what concerned her were the three people leading the army of Talons. They didn’t wear the standard Talon uniform, instead dressed however they pleased. One of them was a woman decked out in purple, from the tips of her hair to the bottom of her toes, riding on a Talon Switchblade. The other was a large, burly man with blue hair, riding a Heli-Blade. The last one was also a man, dressed in red and black and a fair amount of armour, the Cyclonian symbol proudly displayed on his chest. He had to be the youngest of three yet he was still taking point. He, like the woman, rode a Talon Switchblade.

For some reason, Aerrow thought she should recognize him. She just couldn’t put her finger on the ‘why’ of it.

She was interrupted from her musing by Finn flying up along beside her. “Um, Aerrow?” he said. “That’s the Dark Ace. As in, the Dark Ace.” 

Aerrow paled. Well, she thought, that explains why I thought he looked familiar. It was honestly sort of sad that she hadn’t recognized him right off the bat, considering how many posters there were of him all around the Atmos, warning Sky Knights and their squadrons to keep away from him at all costs.

There came a crackle from her Ultra’s radio, signaling an incoming transmission from the Condor. She didn’t have a chance to ask what was wrong before Piper was talking.

“ As in the youngest commander of the Cyclonian empire?” Piper asked, voice pitched higher than normal. “ As in the one who’s never lost a single Sky Duel?” She was getting progressively louder with each word. “ Aerrow, you have to get out of there; you practically have a target painted on your back! There’s no way he’ll just ignore you!”

“We all know that that’s not an option, Piper,” Aerrow responded. “If we leave then there really would be no one to guard the Aurora Stone. At least if we’re here there’s still a fighting chance.”

A sigh.

“ I know.” A beat. “ Just promise us you’ll be careful, please?”

“I promise,” she said, trying to fill her voice with as much warmth as possible.

“We’ve got your back, Aerrow,” Junko called out from behind her. She glanced behind herself, feeling something warm drip through her veins at the sight of his and Finn’s smiles.

She just barely had the chance to smile back at them before Dark Ace swung his sword forwards over his head, sending the Talons forward and starting the battle. 

From there everything seemed to blur together, the fight becoming nothing but a haze of dodging by the skin of her teeth, destroying any skimmer that came within her reaching distance, and lending a hand to Junko or Finn when they needed it and having them return the favour. It seemed that for every Talon she removed from battle, two more would pop up to take their place. The boom! of cannon fire from the cruisers synchronised with the blood pounding in her head. Sweat gathered on her brow, beaded down her back, even though the battle couldn’t have been going on for more than a handful of minutes. Skimmers were flying back and forth, trying to disorient her, making it harder for her to keep focused on any one target she set her eyes on.

It was absolute chaos.

She was loving every minute of it.

And the best part? The best part was the fact that the Storm Hawks were holding their ground. As the battle raged on, more and more Talons were dropping like flies, skimmers having been destroyed or riders having been pushed off their rides. 

Gradually, Aerrow had to start turning her head to find another target, rather than always having a Talon in her direct line of sight no matter where she turned. Finally she had room to breathe, no longer being swarmed by Talons.

Which is what allowed her to finally catch sight of him.

Dark Ace was lazily circling above the battlefield, watching as his side’s numbers dwindled yet still not making a move to join the fight himself. 

He probably thought that he could get away with not fighting; Aerrow was more than ready to prove that assumption wrong.

She quickly glanced around, checking to make sure that Junko and Finn didn’t need any help - they didn’t - before starting to ascend to where the Dark Ace was hovering, his attention now caught on the Condor duking it out with the Talon cruiser.

Beside her, Radarr let out a chirp of confusion as they moved farther away from the battle.

“New plan, Radarr,” she told him. Her eyes never left Dark Ace, unwilling to let him go now that she had her chance. “I’m thinking that if we take out the commander, the others will fly away with their tails between their legs when they see that not even their best was good enough to stop us. What do you think?”

Radarr let out a hesitant chirrup. He obviously thought that she was crazy for seeking this particular opponent out, but nevertheless was still willing to follow her into battle, ever loyal to her.

“Thanks, buddy,” she told him. And she meant it. If Radarr had said no, she would have listened to him and they both knew it. Yet here he was, willing to give her the chance to make her own decisions, fight her own battles. He was trusting her to be safe - and hopefully win, to end this battle before they lost anyone on their side .  

She wasn’t planning on letting him down.

Aerrow pulled to a stop slightly behind and to the left of Dark Ace, close enough for him to be able to hear her but not so close that she was within arm’s length of him. She let her Ultra hover there while she leaned forward to rest her left elbow on her dash and her chin on her fist.

Even though he must have heard her hovering there, Dark Ace didn’t turn to face her. He simply cocked his head to the side so that his left ear was facing her, allowing him to be able to hear her better, but other than that he kept his eyes on the cruisers. Maybe he thought she was one of his Talons coming in to report? 

Eh, whatever. It just provided her with an opportunity to grab his attention by trying to wind him up.

“Hey there, pretty boy,” she jeered, taking great enjoyment in watching him stiffen. A smirk crawled across her face. “Wanna dance?” 

He whipped around to face her, giving her her first clear view of his face.

Oh come on! she despaired silently, just barely managing to keep her smirk in place. She had called him a pretty boy to irritate him, not to have it back backfire on her because it was true!

Although, she reflected perhaps too seriously, it would probably be more accurate to describe him as handsome rather than pretty. His jawline was sharp, his nose straight and thin, and the way his inky hair fell across his forehead brought attention to his wine red eyes.

Even when he was gaping with shock - clearly the thought that a Storm Hawk would come directly to him hadn’t even crossed his mind - he was unfairly attractive.

She gave herself a shake. Now wasn’t the time to be staring into his eyes like some love-sick fool. She had a battle to win. There was no way she was going to let his looks be what stopped her.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have more time to enjoy his shock. He composed himself rather quickly after that, mouth closing and lips pulling into a (rather impressive) scowl.

“You’re a young one.” 

Dammit, even his voice was hot! 

“You’re one to talk,” she retorted automatically. Not the most witty comeback ever uttered, but it was true. Either he aged very well or he couldn’t be older than his early twenties.

He ignored her comment. “I’ll give you one chance to pull your squadron out of this battle. If you agree to retreat, we won’t pursue you. However, if you choose to stay and continue to fight, I will be forced to intervene. And if that were to happen,” he added darkly, a mocking smile gracing his lips,”I wouldn’t be able to guarantee that you would all live to see another day. You have thirty seconds to decide.”

Well wasn’t that nice of him, offering her a full thirty seconds to think about what she wanted to do? And it was such a generous offer, how could she not give it the full deliberation that it deserved?

She made a production of getting into a thinking pose, exaggerating the movement of drumming her fingers on the dash while she made progressively louder humming sounds. She even turned her torso sideways, as if checking to see what Radarr thought about Dark Ace’s proposal.

Radarr shrugged.

Dark Ace’s expression was turning darker by the second. By the time her thirty seconds were up, Aerrow was sure she could hear him grinding his teeth together. Still, he was true to his word and did give her the time he said he would, making no move to attack her or cut the time short no matter how pissed off he was.

“Your decision?” he demanded, the light in his eyes begging her to not take the offered deal so that he could take a swing at her with that sword of his.

“Well, first of all, I just have to say that it was a very generous offer, and I am so honoured that you made it,” Aerrow said, stalling for time as she slowly started to inch her Ultra forward, readying herself for (and alerting Radarr to) the sudden acceleration they would be experiencing in just a moment. “But I’m going to have to decline.”

Dark Ace’s eyes widened. He must have thought she was stupid for not taking the chance to leave with alive, but really, what other option was there other than to stay and fight? No matter which option she took, both options were bad.

Sure they could leave, but that would brand them at best cowards and at worst traitors. Plus Master Cyclonis would also gain possession of the Aurora Stone to do who knows what with it. Or they could stay and fight, and it was true they might die, but at least if they did stand their ground there was still a chance they could win.

She was willing to take that chance, and she knew her friends were too. Hell, that was the whole reason they had engaged the Talons in the first place. If Aerrow were to take the coward’s way out then she would be no better than Carver, and her friends would never forgive her.

That was something she wouldn’t be able to live with.

All of this left her with one option: telling the Dark Ace that he could shove it.

Speaking of -

“Get fucked,” she told him, blunt as blunt can be. She even threw him a middle finger. Just so he would get the message, of course. It had nothing to do with her being petty, no sirree.

Then she flew away as quickly as possible, her and Radarr laughing like loons. She could even just barely hear him cursing her out over the wind in her ears, which just made her laugh even harder.

Now, was it her smartest idea to provoke someone known throughout the Atmos for his Sky Dueling abilities?

No, not even close. 

She was just hoping that doing so would keep Dark Ace’s attention firmly on her. It would take everything she had just to keep up with him. She couldn’t afford for him to suddenly change targets and start going after her friends.

Hence her simple but dumb (very, very dumb) solution.

“Is he following us?” she asked Radarr, not daring to turn around. She was heading back towards the fray and didn’t want to risk a chance of crashing into something if she took her eyes off what was in front of her

Radarr chirped an affirmative.

Thus commenced their game of cat and mouse, Aerrow leading and Dark Ace chasing, flying in zigzags all across the battlefield, Aerrow just barely managing to stay ahead of the Talon commander, all while dodging the blasts of red energy that he was firing off and taking out whichever Talons she could along the way.

Eventually, though, their little game had to end. Aerrow’s arms were starting to get tired from all the swinging they had been doing. If she kept avoiding Dark Ace for too long, there was a very real possibility that by the time he caught up to her she wouldn’t be able to lift her arms to defend herself, much less actually mount an attack.

“Now or never then,” she muttered. Quickly, not giving herself a chance to hesitate, she brought her Ultra into a sharp U-turn, letting her left wings dip towards where the ground (far, far below) would be and then straightening back out once she was fully turned around, this time flying directly towards the young Talon commander.

She let go of her right throttle, reaching back with her newly freed hand to grab hold of a dagger and bring it back in front of her, held at the ready.

With the distance between her and Dark Ace now closing rapidly, the man across from her jumped up and out of his seat, landing with one foot braced on the front of his Switchblade and the other braced on its wing, giving himself the high ground.

There was no time for her to do the same and bring them back onto even fighting ground - they were too close - 

She swung, hoping to catch one of his legs - 

He jumped over her swing -

She watched as his skimmer flew away, rider-less.

Where the hell did he-? she thought, only to cut that thought off when she caught sight of movement in her peripherals. She swung around.

Dark Ace was standing on the edge of one of her wings, smirk firmly in place. 

“Since you’re new at this, allow me to explain the ground rules,” he said. He lunged towards her, fingers digging into the shoulder of her arm with the weapon, ignoring her cry of shock and pain and Radarr’s chirp of concern. Crouched in front of her, he pulled her up by her captive shoulder so that they were face to face, his red eyes boring into her green ones. His voice took on a hard edge. “There are none,” he growled. “If you live, you win. And just so you know, I never lose.”

Then he leaned in closer, bringing his lips next to her ear, a twisted parody of what would normally be the position of lovers muttering sweet nothings to each other. His grip tightened, sure to leave bruises in the shape of fingers. “And if you ever talk to me like that again,” he muttered darkly, “I will not hesitate to cut your tongue out.”

He shoved her back into her seat by her shoulder, Aerrow letting out an ‘oof’ as her back connected with it. Letting out a dark laugh, Dark Ace front-flipped off the front of her skimmer, landing on his own as it passed by underneath her. He flew off, leaving her to glare at his back with her heart thumping wildly in her chest.

A couple minutes later, Aerrow was more than ready for this duel to be over.

At this point her arms were beginning to ache. The Talon general and her were almost constantly trading blows back and forth, only separating from each other long enough to bring their skimmers back around for the next attack. And that asshole wasn’t exactly helping any, with how much force he put behind each of his strikes. Aerrow was honestly surprised that he hadn’t yet managed to knock her dagger from her hand.

They had just finished their latest skirmish, disengaging from each other with a shower of sparks. Aerrow watched as Dark Ace started to bring his Switchblade around, taking the brief respite to wipe the sweat off her forehead with the back of her forearm.

Apparently she didn’t have as large of a window as she thought she did, though. She brought her arm down to see a burst of red energy speeding at her. Desperately, she yanked on her Ultra’s handles, sending it into a roll to the left, praying that she had managed to dodge the attack.

The screech of tearing metal told her she hadn’t.

Aerrow looked over her right shoulder to see what damage had been done, eyes going wide, face going pale, and heart leaping into her throat at what she saw. Or rather, what she didn’t see - because where Radarr’s co-pilot seat normally attached to her skimmer, all she saw was a gaping hole in her skimmer’s side, the arm holding the two units together having been completely torn off.

“Radarr!” she cried, eyes swiveling back and forth and torso twisting from side to side, trying to find his blue form. Please, he has to be fine. I can’t lose him, I can’t -

There!

He was floating gently downwards, parachute deployed and not a mark on him. As if sensing her eyes on him, Radarr looked up at her. He gave her a large smile and thumbs up, letting her know that he was okay - shaken maybe, but not hurt.

Aerrow breathed a sigh of relief, heart still beating fast but no longer feeling like it was going to pop out of her chest.

Just as quickly as it came, though, the relief washed away, rage taking its place, burning through her veins and tinting her vision red.

Her head whipped forward again, eyes immediately locking onto the form of Dark Ace. His back was towards her, in the process of making another loop to come back around. And even though he wasn’t taunting her for not managing to dodge the blast - hell, he wasn’t even looking at her!- Aerrow still felt as her anger went from ‘barely present’ to ‘homicidal’ at the sight of him alone.

With Dark Ace’s back to her and his sword currently in his right hand (the asshole was ambidextrous, which was a major pain in the ass to deal with), Aerrow took her chance. Her fatigue forgotten, she turned on the dime, accelerating towards him at top speed. 

Holding her dagger at the ready, she came up on his left, lining herself up just so. She sped past him, her arm jerking a little when the resistance against her dagger changed from air to metal, its tip biting into the metal of Dark Ace’s skimmer, sparks flaring up along its path.

She glanced over her shoulder to see if she had managed to harm, only to tisk in irritation.

It was only Dark Ace’s reflexes that saved his leg from being severed off below the knee. She wasn’t sure what exactly it was that alerted him to her presence and surprise attack, but he had managed to lift his whole body into a brief handstand on his handlebars, allowing him to safely remove his leg from her line of attack. Then, once she was no longer in reach, he lowered himself back down into a proper seated position, smirking at her all the while.

Since normal attacks didn’t seem to be working, she supposed it was time to crank their fighting up a notch.

She pulled into another turn, this time heading straight for him instead of aiming to pull up alongside him. Dark Ace, catching her hint, jumped out of his seat and onto his wings. Aerrow didn’t hesitate to copy him, only taking a second to make sure to engage her auto-pilot before she was up and out of her own seat, pulling out her second dagger. 

“So you fancy yourself a Sky Knight? Well then, where’s your fancy Move?” he taunted, lips still turned up at the corners, mocking.

Aerrow didn’t bother with responding to him verbally, instead focusing her attention inwards, looking for the energy that had filled her just the day before. To her surprise, it was easy to find. It seemed that once she had unleashed it for the first time, it sat just below the surface of her skin, twisting back and forth, waiting to be called out and greeting her like an old friend when she reached for it. She gave it a tug, letting it flow up and out, coating her in the new, yet already familiar, energy.

Aerrow was going to savour his look of shock for the rest of her life. Dark Ace had clearly thought her unable to perform a signature Move, something that all Sky Knights could do, each Move unique to the Knight. The joke was on him though, and she was going to enjoy watching him and his skimmer go down in flames.

She leapt, movements flowing smoothly as she unleashed her second Lightning Claw in as many days.

She landed deftly, scanning the horizon around her, trying to see where her opponent had gone.

But she couldn’t see him or his skimmer anywhere.

Where the hell-?

“Good form,” a low voice whispered in her ear, sounding genuine in its praise.

Shit!

Aerrow turned so quickly she almost lost her balance, bringing her weapons around just in time to block a blow aiming for her throat. She grunted with the exertion, straining to keep his weapon from moving any closer to her.

“But you need to work on the landing,” Dark Ace tacked on. Considering she had apparently landed on his Switchblade, she figured that was a fair point.

He quickly changed the direction he was pushing his weapon against hers, so that they were shoved up over her head from the unexpected reapplication of force. Double shit! While she stumbled to try and regain her balance, Dark Ace blurred into a spinning side kick. He moved so quickly that she barely even registered the motion. Once second she was on the skimmer, the next there was a solid weight crashing into her stomach with so much force behind it that she was lifted off her feet and the skimmer, falling backwards through the air.

It took a moment for the series of events to catch up with before she was scrambling to flip so that she was falling with her back to the sky, reaching behind her to stow her daggers and extend her wing gliders.

Aerrow stretched her arms back out, making sure that her bracelets caught on the hooks to extend the wings, and then keep them that way once they were out. She jerked a bit once they were fully extended, catching the wind so that she could level out and have an easier time keeping her eyes on her opponent.

Not that she particularly wanted to see him, especially when he started to glow a red to match his eyes, leaping into the air with a backwards flip and gaining more height than should be possible, bringing his arms behind his head like he was going for a downwards strike and legs bending back slightly, chest puffed out.

Her eyes barely had time to widen with the realization that he was using a Move - something that should have only been possible for Sky Knights - before a giant red energy shot was heading straight towards her, larger than any of the others that had been fired at the start of the battle.

She didn’t know if he had missed on purpose or if she was lucky, but thankfully it didn’t end up hitting her straight on. It did clip one of her wings, though. Her balance thrown off and her weight too much for only one glider wing, she immediately started to lose altitude, rolling over and over again. The ground was getting closer and closer, dizzying in its approach as she caught glimpses of it in her endless rotations, unable to correct her position so that she could land with the less risk possible to herself. She could make out that she was falling towards the center of the town, but that was about it.

This was going to hurt.

Aerrow hit the ground wing first, feeling the metal snap off and smack into her legs even as she was sent rolling and skidding across the earth, thrown by her momentum gained during the fall. She skidded along on her back, hit something, bounced, then continued skidding, this time on her stomach, trying to use her arms to keep her from completely eating dirt and to slow her down.

She came to a stop in a cloud of dust, aching all over and coughing every time she breathed in the dusty air but surprisingly not too injured. Huh. They must have been closer to Terra Atmosia than she had thought. Which was good for her because it meant that she hadn’t fallen far before hitting the ground and that she had hit the ground period (she wasn’t that big a fan of the other option, as in falling into the Wastelands). The bad news: the chances of the Talons having had the chance to sneak away from the fight to steal the Aurora Stone while she was distracted with Dark Ace just increased exponentially.

As if wanting to prove her right, there was a change in brightness that was visible even to her, even facing the ground as she was. While it had been around mid-morning when the fight started, it was still shaping up to be a beautiful day, full of the promise of sunshine.

Now, shadows were starting to stretch in front of her and the wind was picking up, beginning to howl as it tore through the street, loud and quick. A quick glance upwards showed that clouds had converged together, blotting out the sun with a miserable grey. 

Groaning, Aerrow pulled her arms in underneath her to leverage her torso off the ground, turning so that she was more on her side. She had just reached a half-seated position when another shadow fell over her, somehow darker than all the others that had formed when the Aurora Stone was removed from its containment unit.

A sword was held to her throat, far enough away that she wasn’t burned when its crystal buzzed to life but close enough that she got the message. One wrong move and she would find herself down one head.

Her eyes followed the long blade up to the expert hand holding it, then further up to a strong arm and broad shoulder and finally to that handsome face and sharp red eyes. His lips were tugged up in a condescending smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. No, they were sharp, cold. For Dark Ace, there was no joy in winning the battle. This had been the expected outcome since the start, so why would he feel any pleasure in what he knew to be inevitable. 

But he surprised her. Instead of finishing her off and making an example out of her, Dark Ace actually turned his crystal off and pulled his sword away, his eyes locked on hers the entire time. 

Aerrow didn’t bother with reaching for her daggers. They both knew she was beat.

“This is the part where I claim victory,” he declared, directing it at her even though the crowd that was gathering around would be able to hear, Aerrow just barely able to see them from the corner of her eye. Apparently, the humiliation of her defeat wasn’t going to be enough for him. It seemed that she was also going to be the subject of his gloating words, laying in the dirt, both figuratively and metaphorically below him while he loomed over her, biting her tongue and having to take his ridicule lest she lose it for trying to talk back. From the triumphant gleam that entered his eyes, he was pleased by her helpless rage. “But since you’re young, I think I’ll allow you a lifetime to stew in your defeat. Then it can really sink in - that you’re not even close to my level.” 

Three Talons approached on their skimmers, one holding the Aurora Stone, its unmistakable blue glow coming out through his fingers. Like a pleased cat carrying a dead bird back to its owner as a present, the Talon presented the precious stone to his commander. Dark Ace took it from him, holding it up so that everyone could see it, as if he was erasing any doubts that what he held wasn’t the symbol of Atmos.

Dark Ace turned to address the crowd. “Your own sworn protector turns on you, and Atmosia sends children instead of Sky Knights?” he asked incredulously, pointing his sword at Aerrow again to emphasize his point. He let out a scoff and spat at her feet. “How pathetic.” Dark Ace shoved the crystal into one of the pouches located at his hip then mounted his Switchblade, giving all those present one last scathing glance. “The wrath of Cyclonia is your future now.”

He and his Talons revved their engines and drove off, switching their skimmers into flight mode once they had gained enough momentum. As soon as their wheels were off the ground, frantic whispers broke out, buzzing around her ears as Aerrow tried to stand up.

She had a couple of false starts before two pairs of hands came to her aid, the smaller pair grabbing her right arm and the larger grabbing the other and her waist. 

“Are you okay, Aerrow?” came Junko’s frantic yet soft voice - he would have been the owner of the larger hands, which left Finn as the person standing to her left, since his hands were too big to be Piper’s.

She brushed the question to the side for the moment, more concerned about the lack of her other friends. While she wouldn’t describe herself as okay, she would survive. But she hadn’t heard from Piper or Stork since the beginning of the battle, and she hadn’t seen what had happened to Radarr after his co-pilot seat had been torn off the side of her skimmer. She would focus on herself once she knew that their other friends were accounted for and not in danger of dying. “Where are the others?” she rasped, wincing at the soreness of her throat. Apparently, dirt wasn’t something that one should inhale. 

Who knew, right?

She heard the sound of Piper’s Heliscooter at the same time she heard the other girl call out her name. A relieved smile painted Aerrow’s face when she realized that all three of her unaccounted for teammates were with Piper. 

Radarr didn’t even wait for the skimmer to be completely on the ground before he was launching himself into her arms, which had opened automatically once she saw him lunge at her. She caught him in a hug, which, though brief, melted some of the tension that she wasn’t aware that she was holding. He scrambled to perch on her back as Piper and Stork walked over, Piper gently touching her arm and asking if she was okay.

“I’m fine,” Aerrow assured, reaching to give Radarr a pat.

“The Aurora Stone, in the hands of Cyclonis and her Talons!” a grave voice interrupted, pulling Aerrow and her friends out of their little bubble and back into the here and now. Chairman Heel was approaching them, and all around them were frightened faces of civilians, none of them knowing what to expect now that Cyclonis had access to the most powerful crystal in all of the Atmos. “Something must be done,” he informed them. “She cannot keep that crystal. The entire future of the Atmos rests in it.”

Aerrow knew that all too well. “Don’t worry,” she told him, even as a plan started to form in her mind. “Something will be done.”

Finn leaned in closer to her to whisper confusedly, “It will?”

She gave him a firm nod. “We’re going to Cyclonia to get it back.” This was no time for hesitation. If they wanted even a chance at getting it back before Cyclonis could use it against the Free Atmos, they had to be sure and they had to move quickly.

Incredulous faces stared back at her, from her team and from the people of Atmosia. 

Stork studied her carefully, scrutinizing every inch of her face. Then he gave a long-suffering sigh. “We’re doomed.”

She beamed back at him.

That wasn’t a no, afterall.

Chapter Text

The battle for the Aurora Stone hadn’t even been over for more than an hour before the message went out: the Free Atmos was in a state of emergency. The Aurora Stone was in the hands of the Cyclonians. All available squadrons were to assemble for a full-scale frontal assault on Terra Cyclonia. Their objective: retrieve the Aurora Stone. At any cost.

Aerrow - and the rest of her team - thought this was a stupid idea. And they weren’t afraid of making their opinion known. Though they did make an effort to do so discreetly.

Currently, Aerrow and her friends were camped out in Chairman Heel’s office. The office was clearly meant to only hold a handful of people at a time and not many more. The space was further cramped by floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, wide enough to almost span the office’s wall. One was placed behind the chairman’s desk, the other to its right. There were also three guest chairs available, two pulled up to the desk and the other sat in the corner, available to be pulled closer should they need it.

Basically, the room was feeling a little snug, not helped by the fact that Junko was present and he was easily broad enough to count as two people who were standing beside each other. 

Chairman Heel sat behind his desk, hands steepled in front of his mouth and observing all of them carefully, though his attention was mostly focused between her and Piper, who had been the ones to take the offered visitor seats.

Piper’s arms were crossed, her fingers drumming away on her arm. It would be rude of her to talk without being addressed first, but Aerrow could tell the other girl was close to throwing etiquette out the window in favour of getting on with it.

Aerrow didn’t blame her. They had been sitting here in near silence for close to a minute now, and Aerrow was over it. Finn had already clocked out - he was content to lean against the back wall by the door, picking at his nails for lack of anything better to do while the silence dragged on.

Chairman Heel let out a weary sigh. He lowered his hands to his desk, interlocking his fingers together. “All right then. Out with it.”

Permission granted, Piper burst out, “The attack on Cyclonia is never going to work!”

“Of course not,” the old man agreed.

Piper looked thrown off by his easy acceptance of the idea. “Then why are you sending all those squadrons out there?” she asked hesitantly. “It’s going to be a slaughter.”

Chairman Heel’s shoulders slumped; the man, already of an advanced age, appeared to grow even older in his years. “That is also true.” He reached to remove his glasses, bringing them down to polish them on his shirt. “But you already know why we have to send those poor souls out. That is not what you came here to discuss.” He shot a glance at the blue-haired girl, eyes shrewd.

Piper slumped in her seat, fingers still tapping on her arm, though this time in a more thoughtful manner. “We have to send those squadrons out because we can’t afford to let the Cyclonians keep the Aurora Stone. Even if the majority of them die, it’s still better than the alternative of doing nothing, which would screw the whole Free Atmos over. Right?” She glanced at the elder and received a nod for her deductions.

Piper scrubbed her hands over her face then crossed her arms again. “So we both know that a direct attack is only going to get lots of people killed,” Piper repeated, voice taking on a thoughtful tone. “But what about a different plan,” she continued, “one that less - overt, shall we say.”

The chairman brought his glasses back up to his face and gave Piper a prompting look.

“What if we used the attack as a diversion,” the tactician said. Chairman Heel looked intrigued, leaning in closer to listen as Piper laid out her plan.

And this was how they found themselves slinking along in Cyclonian territory not twelve hours later.

After Piper and Chairman Heel had hashed out the rough outline of a plan, the Storm Hawks had restocked on crystals (the cost generously covered by the Sky Knight Council), then retreated to the Condor to fix the damage done to their home and their rides. Once the repairs were completed, they then needed to hurry to catch up with the main fleet of the other squadrons. While the Storm Hawks would peel off from the others once actually in Cyclonian territory, they had needed to stay grouped together as they made their way through neutral air space, which was controlled neither by the Free Atmos nor the Cyclonians and was therefore a wild card - while those that lived in this part of the Atmos tended not to pick any sides in the war, that didn’t mean that there weren’t any Cyclonian sympathizers lurking around. And that still didn’t take into account that the Neutral Atmos didn’t really have an established law, which meant that people had to look after themselves if they wanted to stay safe. Hence travelling together as a group, which would make them less of a target than travelling as individual squadrons.

So they had made their way from Free Atmos to Neutral Atmos, then from Neutral Atmos to Cyclonian territory, all of them gathered on the bridge of the Condor, watching as the sky around them darkened and turned red, a side effect of all the smog in the air of the Cyclonian factories. But once they were a few minutes into airspace that was firmly under the control of Cyclonis, Stork had lowered the Condor down through the clouds and closer to the Wastelands, separating from the main group so that both groups could complete their missions.

Meaning: while the squadrons and Talons clashed overhead, obscured by the pollution in the air, the Condor used the deafening sounds of battle to fly farther, right to Cyclonia proper, and into the giant metal pipes that jutted out of the bottom of the terra, big enough that the Condor had more than enough room to spare while navigating the tubes.

Currently, Piper was hunched over an old map of the pipes, directing Stork on which ones to take. Besides just the general layout of the pipes, someone had also marked where emergency exits existed. Supposedly, those entrances to those exits were in some of the lowest floors of Cyclonia. Aerrow, Junko, and Finn were hoping to use those pathways to their advantage, using them to sneak in instead of out.

Aerrow wasn’t quite sure where exactly they had gotten the map from, but so far it seemed to be accurate with its directions - even though the parchment was more yellow than white - so hopefully everything else on it was true too.

Anyways, Piper, Stork, and Radarr are over on one side of the bridge, leaving the rest of them to put on their disguises. Normally they would use a crystal to change their appearances to avoid detection, but the market on Terra Atmosia hadn’t had anything in stock - thus the classics: makeup, wigs, and contacts. Their disguises weren’t very stellar but they would get the job done; Aerrow and her friends didn’t need to look like completely new people, they just needed to be not recognizable for a couple hours at most.

“Stop here,” Piper called out; Stork obligingly set the Condor to a hover. She gathered the aged paper up carefully, then walked over to one of the windows. After consulting her map, Piper pointed upwards to a specific pipe. It looked just as unused as the other metal tubes surrounding it, but it was smaller in diameter and it had a ladder screwed into about halfway up that was almost completely obscured by shadows. If Piper hadn’t pointed it out, Aerrow didn’t think she would have noticed it.

From beside Aerrow, Finn let out a low whistle. “Doesn’t look like they maintain it at all.”

Piper gave a shrug. “Probably the point,” she observed. “If anyone else came down here, anything that marked any of the emergency exits would make people take a closer look, which would be a bad idea. No, someone probably checks it every once in a while to make sure there’s no rust on the ladder and that nothing is blocking a quick exit from the pipes.”

Stork had left his position from behind the wheel to join the rest of the team. Now he was looking at the opening to the pipe critically. Finally, he shook his head.

“I won’t be taking the Condor up there; it won’t fit without possibly getting stuck,” he said. Aerrow didn’t bother asking how he knew that - Stork was the expert on all things Condor, and if he said it wouldn’t fit, it wouldn’t fit. “But I can at least bring us up closer.”

Aerrow nodded her head in thanks. “Please do.” Stork gave her a salute and went to do as he said. Aerrow turned back to Piper. “Think you can give us a lift up to that ladder?”

Piper gave her a thumb’s up. “No problem,” she reassured. “It’ll just take a couple of trips. Junko on one, you and Finn on the other.”

Aerrow gave her a smile. “Thanks. Ready to go?” she asked Junko and Finn, who both gave okay signals.

“I was born ready,” Finn boasted, giving her finger guns and a wink.

“Right,” Aerrow drawled. “One last check first,” she added. She turned to Piper and Radarr, letting them both give her and the other two a quick glance over. Their disguises given a pass, Piper, Aerrow, Finn, and Junko made their way down to the hangar, giving Stork and Radarr a call of farewell. Aerrow pointedly ignored Stork’s parting remark of, “See you soon. Maybe.”

Junko was the first one up, since he had better hearing and they would need it to know whether the coast was clear once they got to the hatch at the top of the ladder. Aerrow and Finn were quick to join him, whispering a thanks to Piper as they leapt the short distance from Piper’s Heliscooter to the ladder.

“Remember, the Condor only has about two hours of cloaking total,” Piper whispered to them. “We can turn it on and off, so it’s not consecutive, but try not to take too long. And be careful!” She then flew back to the Condor as Aerrow and Finn climbed the rest of the way up, stopping just below Junko, who had his ear pressed up against the metal cover of the hole that would let them into the Cyclonian Tower.

“Hear anything?” Aerrow breathed, not daring to raise her voice more than was necessary. Her heart was thumping in her chest, not quite ready to settle into any regular rhythm.

Junko shook his head no, so Aerrow gave him the go ahead to lift the metal cover up a little so that he could take a peek at what was above it. Once he had lifted it up an inch, Junko gave a quick look around, turning the whole 360 so that he could see everything in all directions.

“Clear,” he reported. He then slowly pushed the metal cover over to the side, going slowly so that there wouldn’t be any sudden, loud noise of metal scraping across stone. Once his way was clear, he pulled himself up, then reached down to help Aerrow through the hole in the floor, then Finn, and then finally move the metal cover back into place - it would be all kinds of stupid to leave it shoved to the side. If they did that, they may as well have just run screaming through the halls - it would be just a good a way of alerting the Talons that they had enemies sneaking around their halls.

Aerrow and her friends appeared to be in a storage room of some kind, not overly large but filled to the brim with things ranging from spare Talon uniforms to office supplies to crates of more common crystals.

Aerrow felt her eyebrows come up. “Huh. Well that’s convenient.” She made her way over to the uniforms, tossing one to Junko and one to Finn in their sizes and grabbing one for herself. They weren’t in their regular Storm Hawk outfits, but they still would have stuck out like sore thumbs running around in anything that didn’t have Cyclonian branding on it. The plan was to find a uniform of any kind once they were in, but this worked out a lot better.

The three of them changed quickly, lifting the metal cover back up so that they could drape their own outfits along the ladder rungs, but kept their weapons - just in case. Once they all had their goggles over their eyes, they grabbed a few things to make it look like they had come into this room for a reason. Hands mostly full of supplies, they opened the door to the room and marched out into the hallway, acting as if they belonged there. 

No one else was in the hallway.

“You guys go left and I go right?” Aerrow suggested, heart jumping at the idea of separating from her friends while in enemy territory. Every instinct she had was screaming at her to stay with them, to stay in a group, but that wouldn’t work here. Generally, Wallops weren’t to be found as Talons, so Junko would be getting second looks from everyone here no matter what. If somebody decided to stop their group for questioning, and they were found out? They wouldn’t buy the idea of a solo mission - too risky. But the Talons might buy the idea of only two people being on it, since smaller numbers were better for sneaking around. So at least one person needed to be by themselves, to at least have a better chance of avoiding detection. And Finn, as the one with the least amount of close combat training, needed to have a partner.

“Sounds good to us,” Junko said.

“And you have your communicators?” Aerrow pressed. Two nods. “Great. Then we’ll hopefully be seeing each other in an hour for a check in. Good luck, you two.”

“You too, Aerrow,” they chorused back to her.

Aerrow gave them a nod of acknowledgement, turned on her heel, and set off at a brisk pace. She was aiming for a quick enough pace to look like she had somewhere to be - which would hopefully discourage anyone from stopping her to ask questions.

For the next half-hour, Aerrow wandered around the Cyclonian base, shoulders going tense whenever a Talon so much as glanced in her direction. But miraculously, no one stopped her or identified her as an enemy. Slowly but surely, her heart settled into a more regular rhythm, still beating too fast but better than the full-out gallop it had had going on earlier.

Unfortunately, though, her search for the Aurora Stone was slow going, even with how fast she was moving. Just because most of the Talons were out on the battlefield didn’t mean there weren’t any in the halls. Whenever one was in the same space as her, which was often enough that it was starting to annoy her, Aerrow couldn’t check any doors without looking suspicious. So she would need to double back once they were gone, but that meant sometimes waiting for longer than she was comfortable with before being able to do so. 

And that wasn’t even taking into account that some doors were locked; those doors needed a key card to be able to get into. Surprise, surprise - Aerrow didn’t have that card. While she could have swiped one off of another Talon foot soldier, there was no guarantee that they would have the clearance to get into those locked rooms; plus, there was no way to know if trying to access those rooms would set off an alarm if the key card didn’t work. All this to say: Aerrow couldn’t risk someone noticing her filching a card of them and having it not work if she did. 

To add insult to injury, the Cyclonian Tower was goddamn huge. Aerrow didn’t even come close to checking all the doors on her side of the tower, but even still she had only finished examining a few floors and the Tower held almost a dozen.

Closing another door to a dead end (perhaps harder than she should have), Aerrow gave a groan and blew some of the black strands of the wig out of her face. Goddamn bangs, she grumbled to herself. Goddamn Tower. What the Hell do they need this many supply closets for?! That’s the fifth one this floor!

So far, besides an abundance of supply closets, Aerrow had found three deserted locker rooms, eight gyms, and four break rooms, along with multiple bathrooms and a handful of other miscellaneous rooms.

Do none of these people understand moderation?! For Saya’s sake, there doesn’t need to be a sauna on each floor!

Aerrow let her head thump against the door she had just closed. If only she could say screw it and drop the secrecy. Although, she mused, then I’d have to fight off more people than would be advisable. Oh well, guess not. Maybe Finn and Junko are having better results?

Letting loose another groan of annoyance, Aerrow straightened back out, fixing her hair and intending to get back to work.

“Having a hard day?” an amused voice asked her.

“Holy shit!” Aerrow yelped, hand leaping to her chest and resting over her pounding heart as she whirled around to face the speaker.

It was a woman, judging by the breasts (although Aerrow did acknowledge that they weren’t always an accurate indicator), with dark purple hair pulled back into a small ponytail. She wore - as expected - the standard Talon uniform, goggles included, as well as a face mask that covered everything from her nose down.

Where the Hell did she come from? Aerrow wondered, completely bewildered. She hadn’t even heard any footsteps approaching her.

“Sorry,” the woman apologized, sounding sheepish. “Didn’t mean to startle you. Just thought you should know,” here she leaned closer, so that she could whisper in Aerrow’s ear, “you’re doing pretty good for a beginner, but you’re never going to be able to make it to the Aurora Stone without someone finding you out.”

Aerrow’s heart missed a beat.

Reacting purely on instinct, without even a second thought, Aerrow’s arm shot out, reaching for the other woman’s hair to try to pull her off balance; her foot also shifted forward to try to sweep the Talon’s legs out from under her, in case it turned out she need a little more convincing to hit the ground.

The other woman reacted instantly, leaning back out of Aerrow’s reach even as her hand came up to grab Aerrow’s wrist on her outstretched hand. The Talon stepped closer and pivoted, using Aerrow’s own momentum against her to throw her to the floor on her stomach.

Aerrow was rolling as soon as she hit the ground, twisting to the side to get her arms on the ground and her feet in the air, windmilling her legs to discourage the other woman from getting into her personal space while she was getting her feet back under her. 

It worked but only bought Aerrow a small window to breathe. Almost as soon as she was standing, her arms were up to block the flurry of punches aimed at her torso - which, ow. Her fall from yesterday wasn’t doing her any favours in this fight, as it felt like the Talon was somehow finding a way to target all of the bruises Aerrow had gained from eating dirt the previous day.

Aerrow sent out her own punches when she could, but she could tell that she was losing ground. As the Talon kept up her assault, Aerrow could feel more punches getting through her guard, every fifth one connecting, the every fourth, third, and Aerrow was starting to back up, trying to disengage to regroup but unable, being pressed relentlessly until her back hit one the hallway walls.

Desperate, she launched herself low and to the side, turning it into a somersault even as her opponent’s fist made contact with the wall and she cursed up a blue streak.

Deciding her best option was to disengage, Aerrow didn’t bother to look back, instead taking off at a sprint down the hallway, trying to recall any place that she had already passed that might make a half-way decent hiding place. She wasn’t going to be winning this skirmish, that much was clear, so her best bet would be to lose the other woman and then continue on her search. Her disguise would be shot to hell, but that just meant that she would need to prioritize speed over stealth.

However, Aerrow didn’t get more than a handful of strides down the hallway before she was being tackled to the ground. In short order she was back on her stomach again, one wrist pinned down by a knee, the other arm twisted behind her back and immobilized. Her opponent’s other knee settled on the small of her back, her hand pressing Aerrow’s forehead to the ground. But for all that Aerrow was unable to move, the grip restraining her was surprisingly gentle. It wouldn’t budge by any means, but she also wasn’t going to be adding any more bruises to her already impressive collection.

“Good reaction time,” the one pinning her commented, sounding amused and only slightly out of breath.

Bitch, Aerrow thought rather uncharitably.

“Now,” the Talon continued, “if I let you up, do you promise not to run away and/or attack me again?”

…Huh?

Aerrow tried turning her head to the side, slightly surprised the other woman didn’t stop her. She gave the Talon a curious look, but the mask and goggles blocking out the majority of her face didn’t help her figure out what the other woman’s game plan was.

“...Fine,” Aerrow reluctantly agreed. “But we have to stay out of arm’s reach from each other,” she bargained, challenging.

“Sure,” the purple-haired woman agreed amiably, letting go of Aerrow and even offering her hand to help her to her feet.

Aerrow took it, weary but willing to hear her out.

“Now, let’s move this to someplace a little more private, shall we?” the Talon suggested, steering Aerrow into what turned out to be an empty office.

Once the door had been locked behind them, and the Talon had made sure there were no openings to see into the room, she reached up to remove her goggles and face mask, revealing green eyes set in a beautiful face.

Aerrow’s mind boggled because standing before her was -

“Starling of the Interceptors?” she breathed, incredulous. “Holy shit. What are you doing here?”

“Ah, so you know who I am.” Starling looked pleased. “Good. This will make this conversation much easier. I’ve been here for the past few months, working undercover. I was trying to see if I could steal any research coming out of Cyclonia’s crystal lab,” she explained, pacing over to one of the office desks and leaning against it. Aerrow joined her, hopping up to sit on the office desk sitting across from the other Sky Knight.

“I was just about to grab some of the research and split, but then came the news that Cyclonia had managed to get their hands on the Aurora Stone, so I figured it would be better to stay here and try to grab it myself. Or,” she looked at Aerrow, “to offer my assistance to anyone who made their way over.”

Aerrow perked up. “You’d be willing to do that?” she asked.

Starling gave her a fond look. “Of course,” she stated, like she never considered not helping to ever be an option. “I even know where they’re currently holding the Aurora Stone, but it’s under heavy guard and I wasn’t going to be able to get it without some help. So imagine my surprise when I saw you in that hallway. It was a very lucky break, but hey, I’m not complaining.” The older shrugged her shoulders.

“Actually,” Aerrow started, now that it occurred to her that she could ask this and actually get an answer, “how did you know that I wasn’t a Talon having a crappy day?” Aerrow’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Your uniform is out-of-date,” Starling explained nonchalantly. “The new uniforms have more red on them. They updated them about… maybe two or three weeks ago?” She gestured between the two of them; Aerrow’s borrowed uniform did, indeed, not have as much red as Starling’s. “You’re lucky people are more focused on what’s happening outside right now - and that I was the first person to notice. If not…” Starling shrugged.

Aerrow stared down at her uniform, affronted by its betrayal. “Figures,” she muttered sullenly, kicking her feet and letting her heels hit against the wood of the desk. “Anyways, you said you know where the Aurora Stone is?” she questioned, steering them back to the more important topic at hand.

Starling inclined her head in agreement. “I do. There’s a crystal lab on the seventh floor - it’s where they do all their experiments, trying to find how to amplify crystal effects or make them last longer or what-have-you.” She brought her hand up to rub at her neck and give a quick tug to her ponytail. “The problem, though, as I’ve mentioned, is that it’s currently under heavy guard. There’s no way for one person to get into that room without explicit approval - and it’d be impossible for only one person to get in there, grab the crystal, and get off this terra without being caught or outright killed.” Aerrow was given a thoughtful look from shrewd green eyes. “With you here though…” the woman trailed off.

Aerrow was easily able to pick up the train of thought. “With me here, there’s a chance that we can recover that crystal and that at least one of us can get away with it.”

“Right,” Starling nodded.

“You have a plan?” Aerrow asked next, because while she could come up with something, Starling had more experience and knew the lay of the land better than she did.

Starling made a so-so gesture. “More of an idea, really,” she admitted.

“Well, I’m willing to follow your lead,” said Aerrow, feet still swinging idly. “One idea is more than what I have. Oh! And I also have a couple teammates around here, too, and a way to get into contact with them.” She pulled out a communicator and gave it a small wave. She glanced at the time, then admitted, “There’s still about a quarter of an hour before we’re supposed to meet up, but I can call them here, if you want.”

“A good idea,” Starling agreed. “Give them a call and we’ll see if we can turn this idea of mine into a plan. Sound good?”

Aerrow grinned in response.

Slightly an hour after Aerrow and her friends had breached Cyclonia, they had picked up an unexpected ally, they knew where the Aurora was being held, and they had the barest outline of a scheme to get into the lab crystal to steal the most powerful crystal in the Atmos out of enemy hands.

Step one was acquiring more up-to-date uniforms for Finn, Junko, and Aerrow. That one was easy: Starling knew where spares were kept. She was gone from the room not ten minutes before she was back, goods clutched in her hand.

Step two: cause a ruckus while most of the Talons were still out on the battlefield, dealing with the other squadrons, since this posed two major advantages. The first they had already reaped the benefits of - less people wandering around the Tower in general. The second benefit was that the struggle between the Sky Knights and the Talons was causing a lot of chaos, which the Storm Hawks and Starling could use to confuse any pursuers they might pick up on their way out with the Aurora Stone. (Although, of course, they were still aiming to get in and out with anyone the wiser to their infiltration until it was too late.)

All four of them had relocated to the seventh floor; since Junko and Finn had volunteered to be the distraction, Aerrow and Starling were going to act as the catalyst. Their job was to alert the Talons guarding the door about a pair of new recruits that were getting violent with each other (aka Finn and Junko) and refusing to seperate, drawing a few of the guards away from their posts. Finn and Junko would keep dragging more people into their scuffle, leading to the need of more officers to break the fight up, having to abandon their positions to do so. Rinse, repeat.

When everyone was in position, Finn and Junko were given their signal. They started a casual conversation, but were quick to escalate to passive-aggressive comments, then petty insults, then yelling and “fighting”. Aerrow and Starling chimed in like they were trying to defuse the situation, but in reality they just stood to the side and watched as the two boys grappled, trying to give each other wet willies.

Once the Sky Knights had deemed enough time to have passed, they mussed up their uniforms a little. They hurried around the corner in the hallway, trying to look as harried as possible.

The hallway leading to and from the lab was full to the brim with Talons. Some were pacing up and down, but most were stood stationary on either side of the door. Aerrow counted no less than twelve Talons, all big and burly and intimidating in their size. Aerrow was tall for a woman, reaching almost six feet in height and still growing, but the men posted guard were all at minimum a handful of inches taller than she was.

“Sir!” Aerrow called out, approaching who she knew to be the senior officer posted at the lab’s door due to Starling’s description of him. She pitched her voice higher, attempting to sound like a stressed young girl who was in over her head. “Sir, please, you have to help! The two recruits fighting are refusing to let go of each other, no matter how many times we pull them apart! They just keep shaking us off!”

The senior officer sighed, but motioned for a couple of the other guards to go deal with the situation. They saluted then peeled off, rounding the corner into the hallway the Sky Knights had just left. 

Everyone who was left by the crystal lab could hear the two dispatched officers trying to break up the fight, but they proved ineffective. In fact, Junko and Finn, true to plan, even managed to drag the officers into the argument with them. In less than a minute, their distraction had doubled in size and volume.

The senior officer let out a heavy sigh, reaching up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. He pointed at the Sky Knights. “Go find Officer Malvin, he should be just a couple floors down in room 513. Inform him of what’s happening here.” The fight around the corner got louder still. “And be quick about it,” he ordered, taking even more patrolling Talons with him as he went to try to deal with the problem himself.

Aerrow and Starling hurried away, heading in the opposite direction of the scuffle. They ducked around the nearest corner, stopping once they were a few paces away from the corner but going no further. 

As more time passed and Aerrow and Starling didn’t return with more Talons and the fight steadily increased in volume, the two Sky Knights heard more men leaving their posts to try to break up the chaos, only to get roped into it as well. The two women occasionally risked a glance around the corner they were hiding around, checking to see how many people were left in the hallway.

Once all the Talons that were guarding the crystal lab hnd been drawn away, Aerrow and Starling left their spot to approach the door, keeping their footsteps soft but unconcerned that a Talon was going to suddenly disengage from the chaos that was a fight that had gotten out of hand.

The door to the crystal lab… looked like all the others, to be honest. Big and made of metal, with a lock that would need a card to open.

Thankfully, Starling had that covered. She produced a key card and explained, ”I nicked it off one of the higher ups yesterday night. I’ve been flirting with him since day one, and it was getting time for me to split, so when he invited me to his rooms I took my chance and smothered him in his sleep. Then I called him in sick this morning. They’ll notice eventually, but we should be long gone by then.”

As she spoke, Starling fiddled with the lock on the door, punching in a code and then swiping the card. The light flicked green but didn’t beep, which was a nice bonus; Starling twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.

Step three was now in effect: get their hands on the Auror Stone.

Inside, the lab was sparsely decorated. There were only a few lab benches, all of them pushed up against the two walls on either side of the door. There were crystals scattered across the benches, and more piled into crates that were placed underneath the benches. But what grabbed Aerrow’s attention the most was the machine located along the far wall opposite the door. She had no idea what it could be; it had a metal base with a glass ball sitting on top, three types of claws (? Or something like that) keeping the Aurora Stone in place, along with multiple metal arms that were operated by what looked like an enlarged version of a typewriter keyboard… and the person who was standing in front of the large machine.

Aerrow couldn’t tell much about them - they had on a dark cape and hood, which concealed their build and hair colour. Until or unless they turned around, all Aerrow really knew was that they were short, no more than 5’1”.

This was where they ran into a problem. According to Starling’s intel, a schedule that she had nabbed on her way out of the higher up’s office, there were supposed to be a handful of low-level scientists working on the Aurora Stone. And from the way Starling’s face paled and her steps slowed into a halt, this new variable wasn’t going to go in their favour.

Aerrow leaned over to her and asked sotto voce, “Who is that?” By now, the figure had noticed that something was off with the room. Their typing at the controls had stopped, leaving an almost eerie silence that was only broken by Aerrow’s soft words.

Their cover having been blown completely out of the water, Starling heaved a sigh and didn’t bother to lower the volume of her own voice. “That would be Master Cyclonis. And we are going to have a much harder fight than we thought we would for that Aurora Stone.”

The figure took that as their cue to turn around, revealing Cyclonis to be a girl with purple black-hair, a beauty mark on one cheek, and violet eyes made sharp with black eyeliner. She also appeared to be quite young - either she had a major case of baby-face or she was around the same age as Aerrow and her friends. Cyclonis’ arms were thin all the way up, leading to shoulders that appeared to have more width than they really contained due to her cloak (not cape, Aerrow corrected of her earlier assumption, because it fastened at the front). In summary: short, thin, kinda mean looking.

Cyclonis blinked at them slowly. “Ah,” she drawled, “it seems that we have an infestation. Although I do applaud you” - here she nodded to Starling - “because while I had my suspicions, I never was quite able to pin anything on you.” Cyclonis turned her violet eyes to Aerrow. “You, on the other hand, are new. I don’t know who you are.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. It’s only my first day,” Aerrow quipped back, reaching for the daggers strapped to her back. “But while I’m here.” Aerrow pointed one of her daggers at Cyclonis, but didn’t active the crystal at the end of it just yet. She ordered, “Shut down the machine and give back what you stole. The Aurora Stone belongs to Terra Atmosia.”

Cyclonis brought her forefinger up to tap at her lips in thought. Her eyes narrowed. “Hmm. Let me think… No.” She threw out her hand and the staff that had been leaning up against a wall flew over to her promptly. Each of its ends was equipped with a purple crystal.

As soon as it hit her hands, Cyclonis was enveloped in a purple aurora. Then she fucking started to float! Off the goddamn floor, like she was a possessee out of a horror movie. She advanced on Aerrow and Starling, touching down when she was at a closer range and tearing her cloak off her as she landed, revealing a purple outfit that was tighter and more practical for a fight than the cloak.

Well shit, Aerrow thought. But fine. Whatever. Would have preferred not to fight the master of Cyclonia today, but fine. There’s two of us, and only one of her. Piece of cake.

Wanting this confrontation to be over with as soon as possible, Aerrow got herself ready, activating the crystals at the end of her daggers. But Starling got there first, throwing out a pair of nunchucks, also equipped with purple crystals but glowing darker than Cyclonis’ did, snapping a crystal out of the staff’s holding chamber and breaking off multiple little pieces alongside it.

Starling looked pleased.

“A good try,” Cyclonis simpered. Then, her staff let off a couple of quick, purple flashes and the broken off pieces and crystal went flying back to her. In just a few seconds, Cyclonis’ staff had gone from in one piece to broken to looking like nothing had ever happened to it again. The master of Cyclonia smirked at them. “Ooh, you’re good,” she tacked on, voice verging on condescension.

Starling scowled, settling deeper into a fighting stance. “I’ll hold off the witch,” she called, emerald eyes not straying away from the young girl in purple. “Go grab the crystal.”

Aerrow would have rather helped the older woman with the fight, but she understood Starling’s reasoning. Their priority was the retrieval of the Aurora Stone, and the best way to do that was for someone to grab it while Cyclonis was distracted with a fight; since Starling had the edge of experience, it made more sense for Aerrow to be the one to grab the stone and run.

Aerrow nodded her head, circling to the right to pass by Cyclonis as Starling launched another attack, diverting Cyclonis’ attention to her so that Aerrow could move forward unimpeded.

The Storm Hawks’ leader hurried towards the machine holding the Aurora Stone, making sure to keep her ear on the fight going on behind her as she observed the contraption in front of her. It was bigger up close, with the crystal resting well above arm’s reach.

Aerrow turned to the controls, hoping to see anything that looked familiar, but it was futile. She had absolutely no idea what any of the keys did, and she didn’t want to risk making it do something by pressing something that she shouldn’t have. So it was on to Plan B instead.

She grabbed one of the machine’s six metal arms; it bent a little under her weight when she tested it, but not enough to cause concern - it was probably just their natural flexibility that caused them to move, rather than her weight. Still, Aerrow was careful when she pulled herself up, reaching higher with her hands and putting her feet onto the arm she had just lifted her hand off of.

It took more time than she would have preferred, but Aerrow was able to scramble up to the Aurora Stone’s container, able to stand fully on the machine once she was up.

She had just started to pry up one of the claws holding the crystal in place with her dagger when there came a pained cry from behind her. Not able to tell who it came from, Aerrow had to leave her task to turn around and check on the fight - right on time to see Starling go sprawling to the floor. 

She didn’t get back up.

Aerrow felt her breath catch in her chest. “Starling!” she cried. Then she realized that she couldn’t see any blood under the older woman, which made her feel a little bit better. While the blunt force from Cyclonis’ staff could have been enough to kill the other Sky Knight, odds were she was just out cold.

At least, Aerrow hoped she was. But she couldn’t focus on that right now.

With Starling down, Cyclonis was free to switch her full attention onto Aerrow. Her staff came up, crystal at the end glowing blue - which, what? - so Aerrow grabbed her daggers, activated them, then bailed. She hit the floor just as the blast from the crystal hit the machine, covering the glass portion that rested at the top in a thick layer of ice.

Aerrow landed on the floor, bending her knees to absorb some of the impact. Immediately after, she was moving, drawing on the energy humming underneath her skin for a Lightning Claw. Aerrow didn’t want to give Cyclonis any more chances at blasting off ice attacks from that crystal; she was confident in her ability to dodge them, but it would come at the price of icing over the floor and limiting her mobility until she was cornered. No, it was better to try to end this quickly. 

(And also because the battle between the Sky Knight squadrons and Talons was probably drawing to a close after having been going on for a while by now. Even for the most fit of people, that much constant activity would be taking a toll.)

The energy inside her snapped to attention, lifting her up into the air in an instant then firing off at Cyclonis as Aerrow dropped back to the ground.

Cyclonis didn’t even bother to move. Instead, she thrusted her spear up, crystal first, at the incoming attack. The blast hit the crystal - spread out - 

Flowed around where Cyclonis was standing, rather than striking her, dispersed around the shield that she had thrown up.

Fuck!

“Oh?” the other girl questioned, slight curiosity in her voice. “A Sky Knight? ” She hummed to herself. “Just who are you? I haven’t heard about a new squadron being registered, but that definitely wasn’t a Move that I recognised - and I’ve made a point of knowing each Sky Knight’s move; know thy enemy, and all.”

Cyclonis’ eyes flickered over Aerrow’s form, then darted to a few spots behind her and back. Aerrow didn’t turn - she couldn’t be sure the other girl wasn’t just trying to fake her out or not, so she kept her focus on the threat she knew was present in the room; she’d just have to take a chance for the moment, then check the room when an opportunity presented itself.

But Cyclonis didn’t send another blast her away; she straightened her posture, briefly twirling her staff in her hands. She was undoubtedly ready to move at a moment’s notice, but she seemed more… at ease, maybe? Or more confident than she had been just a moment before.

“You can’t win, Sky Knight,” she said, apropos of nothing. Seriously, why the talking? “You’ll go your moves” - she wiggled her fingers mockingly - “and jump around but the end result will be the same.” Aerrow’s eyes narrowed, thoughts flashing in her mind as she tried to figure out where the other girl was going with this conversation. “I unleash the full fury of nature” - Cyclonis gestured grandly to the machine at the end of the lab - “and you - well, actually, I don’t really care what happens to you.” She shrugged her slim shoulders.

The hair on the back of Aerrow’s neck stood on end. A buzz started behind her - her eyes widened - she tried to turn -

Pain along her back, the sensation of flying forward through the air, hitting the ground and skidding along on her stomach, weapons flying out of her hands -

Then black.

Aerrow wasn’t sure how long she had blacked out for.

She blinked her eyes open, squinting when everything started to tilt alarmingly. While her vision problems tried to sort themselves out, Aerrow took stock. Her back hurt, no duh, and her ribs were protesting having been slammed to the floor for the third time in two days. 

Something warm was sliding down her forehead. Aerrow reached a hand up to touch, pulling back her glove to see a patch of darker red on the Talon uniform. Not a lot of blood, so she probably only had a scratch or scrape and not anything severe. But besides that, her head felt fine - and her vision was clearing too, yay.

Dimly, Aerrow could hear Cyclonis talking to someone: “The machine is ready. We’ll need to move it up to the top floor. Once these Sky Knights have been dealt with, go get a handful of vetted Talons. They’ll be your help. This place will need to be combed top to bottom to see if anyone else has snuck in - that’s their job. Your job is guarding this room. I don’t want this machine tampered with, so it’s going to stay here in the lab until the search is done; I’ll activate the room’s defenses.”

Cyclonis stood with Dark Ace (which, what? When? And how? The room had been empty when they came in!), facing the machine and rattling off orders to her most trusted Talon.

As she talked, Aerrow pulled herself to her feet. She swayed a little once fully upright, but it passed quickly. Being careful not to draw attention to herself, Aerrow reached down to grab one dagger, took a couple steps and grabbed the other. Weapons secured, she looked around for Starling - but no dice, the woman was down still.

She turned back to the Cyclonian just in time to hear Cyclonis say, “And so it begins.”

“You’re wrong.”

The two Talons whipped around, obviously surprised to see her conscious and back on her feet. Stupid reaction, really - they should have made sure she and Starling were secured before doing anything else. 

Behind them, the machine was on; inside the glass chamber, blue energy was swirling around, flaring bright enough to be seen even through the ice on the glass. The Aurora Stone was shining, letting off the occasional spark as its energy was drained away and transferred.

Plan C then, Aerrow thought. She wouldn’t be able to pry the crystal out of its holding chamber and time was running out. Already, Dark Ace was reaching for his sword, shock wearing off fast. If Aerrow didn’t have enough time to retrieve the Aurora Stone, then she was just going to have to make do with making sure the Cyclonians couldn’t keep their dirty little hands on it either.

She didn’t give herself more time to think about how truly stupid Plan C was; her ribs complaining, Aerrow reached for a little bit of the energy pooled inside her. She directed it towards her legs instead of letting it flood her and then leapt, easily sailing through the air and over the heads of Cyclonis and Dark Ace, flipping as she went to make sure she landed facing them, feet finding firm purchase on her chosen metal perch as they started to turn, not having been able to keep up with her quick movement - although she would give the Dark Ace credit for the fact that he was drawing his sword and activating its crystal even as he turned.

Knowing she didn’t have much time, Aerrow quickly holstered the dagger in her left hand and brought the one in her right up over her head, blade glowing with blue energy pointed downwards. She put her left hand over her dagger’s crystal for extra force, then drove her weapon down point-first into the Aurora Stone.

Already having cracks in it, the crystal didn’t stand a chance against the force of her blow and her blade’s tip sunk deep into the precious stone. It shattered, bits of brilliant blue sprinkling to the ground.

Cyclonis let out a screech of rage and raised her staff, but Dark Ace beat her to the punch; he fired off a bolt of red energy and Aerrow, straightening up from the blow she had just delivered, was caught straight in the chest. She flew up and off her feet for the second time that day, straight into the ice covering the glass top of the machine. She heard a loud crack! and she froze, eyes going wide. For a long second, she waited for the pain to hit, thinking something in her chest had just been broken, even if the sound was a little off from what bones snapping usually sounded like.

But as a couple of beats passed and nothing happened, Aerrow didn’t feel any blinding pain. So what had made that sound?

Seeing as both Cyclonis and Dark Ace had also stopped moving at the crack, Aerrow took a chance and twisted her head around, trying to see where the sound had originated. As it turned out: the ice (and glass) that she had just crashed into.

Dark Ace’s blast had had enough force behind it that Aerrow had been pushed through the ice covering the glass of the machine and into the glass itself; previously one smooth ball, it now had a large spider web of cracks. Even more alarmingly, though, was that the glowing blue energy being contained by the glass was starting to swirl faster and shining through the cracks.

Light shone through one part of the cracks, then two, then started spreading until all of them were shining. Ever since it had been turned on, the machine had been letting off a soft humming noise, but now it was picking up, becoming louder, while electricity danced across the entirety of the machine.

The light was starting to be almost blinding in its intensity and the machine was rumbling. 

Aerrow just barely had time to think oh shit before the glass container exploded. She was thrown to the ground at the base of the machine by the shockwave, glass shards raining down around her as she brought her arms up to cover her head and protect her face.

She waited for a few heartbeats once the cacophony of things breaking stopped reverberating around the room. Aerrow peeked one eye open, then cautiously lowered her arm so that she could turn over onto her hands and knees. She straightened slowly, taking stock of the room.

For starters, Dark Ace and Cyclonis hadn’t been spared by the blast of power that had swept from the machine. It seemed that being further away from the explosion had actually been detrimental to them - because they weren’t even in the lab anymore, having been blasted through one of the room’s walls. 

Starling was further away from the machine, but seemed to have been spared the same fate as the Cyclonian by fact of being on the ground - she had just been sent rolling. In fact, the blast seemed to have woken her up. She was twitching and groaning, bringing a hand up to her head.

People accounted for, Aerrow took a look at the lab proper. All the crystals that had been in crates were now scattered across the ground, all of them fried, no longer glowing with their innate power. Two of the lab’s walls had collapsed, one being the ones the Cyclonians had gone through, the other being one that led to the outside; through the opening, Aerrow could see the polluted, red air of the sky. The lab was also missing a good chunk of its ceiling leading to the floor above. A hole in the floor revealed that the blast was worse going down, as Aerrow could peer into it and see several floors down.

“Well that’s not good,” she commented to herself. As if in agreement, the ground around her rumbled. A siren blared to life, loud and insistent, wailing, and a voice came over an intercom, ordering everyone to evacuate the upper and middle floors and to go to the hangar, which was reinforced. “And that would be my cue.”

Aerrow was about to make her way to Starling, who was standing up and looking around in confusion, when something bright caught the corner of her eye. It was one of the larger chunks of the shattered Aurora Stone, bigger than its brethren laying around it but still no larger than one of her pointer fingers. Not sure why she was doing it, Aerrow picked her way over to it, bending over to scoop it up once there, then turned her attention back to the other Sky Knight.

“We need to get out of here!” Aerrow told her once at her side, raising her voice to be heard over the siren. Aerrow quickly stored the dagger still in her hand - which she miraculously hadn’t dropped when the machine exploded - and checked that her other one was still in its sheath (and it was). That dealt with, she slipped a hand around the other woman’s waist, grabbing one of Starling’s arms to put over her shoulder.

Once Starling was secure, they hobbled over to the lab’s door together, opening it to limp into the hallway. Finn and Junko were waiting for them there, and they both brightened considerably once they saw the two come out of the lab.

“What the hell, dudes?” Finn demanded, gesturing at them and then to the chaos of the destroyed lab behind them, visible through the open door. “I thought we weren’t supposed to be making a scene!”

Junko, bless him and his kind heart, had reached to take Starling’s weight from Aerrow the moment he realized they were both a little worse for wear.

Aerrow gave him a smile, then turned to Finn. “Change of plans,” she told him wryly. “Cyclonis didn’t want to give back what she stole, surprise surprise, so I went with the good old ‘no one gets to have it then’ tactic.” She made a face. “It worked better than anticipated.”

“No duh,” Finn deadpanned, gesturing overhead to indicate the siren.

Aerrow smiled sheepishly even as she herded her friends forward, hurrying them along. “I know, I know,” she said, “but we should save that for later. Cyclonis and Dark Ace got blasted through a wall, but I didn’t exactly stick around to see if they were getting up or if they were completely out. We should probably hurry.”

“Who and who now?!” Finn yelped, both he and Junko going pale.

“Later!” Aerrow insisted.

Thankfully, they picked up the pace.

The group made their way back down, going back the way they had originally come up. They slipped out of the lab section of the floor and merged into the flow of Cyclonians making their way downwards. Their injuries, fortunately, weren’t out of place; everywhere Aerrow looked, there were people who were helping others who had clearly been caught in the explosion. Some people were simply covered in dust, but others were sporting scrapes and gashes on heads or arms or legs, while others needed to be supported because they were limping.

With only Dark Ace and Cyclonis wise to their disguises, Aerrow and her group made their way down to the hangar’s level. They made sure to stick to the sides of the hallways, just so they wouldn’t be caught up with the flow of movement in preparation for Starling’s directions on when they would need to peel off. They would need to leave before getting to the hangar proper, as it would be hard to explain why they would try to leave the reinforced room once they were actually in it. Instead, Aerrow and Starling would pretend to get dizzy, Finn and Junko would take them into a more secluded hallway under the pretence of letting them gather themselves before continuing on, and then would slip away down to the sublevels and back into the storage room they had snuck in through.

And they did exactly that. When Starling nodded her head to a hallway on their right, she and Aerrow told Finn and Junko to lead them over there, that they were feeling queasy and that their vision was swimming. Once in the quiet hallway, Aerrow and Starling were lowered to the ground gently, so that they could curl up and tuck their heads between their knees. Whenever someone came over to them, worried that they had stopped, Junko and Finn explained that the women were “just resting for a moment, promise,” and that they’d “be on their way once their friends were feeling just a bit better”.

On this went, until the flow of people was more of a trickle coming past, rather than a flood. Once they were sure that there was as little risk as possible, Aerrow and Starling stood up (Starling not even needing Junko for support anymore), and they started making their way further down, following after Starling and taking the less used hallways to avoid as many people as possible.

Any time they did manage to encounter another person, though, who wondered about why they were going in the opposite direction of the hangar, Aerrow encouraged them to be on their way via dagger being pointed in their face. Thankfully, the handful of people she threatened with bodily harm got the message; instead of pushing for answers, they closed their mouths and were on their way, leaving Aerrow, Finn, Junko, and Starling to keep making their way down to the storage room (whose door had been marked near the bottom with a dot of blue, none of them wanting to chance missing it) and then through the manhole and onto the ladder below it.

Once they were all clinging to the ladder, Finn took the flare and match he had stowed away in one of his pockets, lit the flare, then dropped it down the tube.

All of them watched it fall, eyes fixed on the glowing end as it fell through the air and out of the tube’s other end.

Starling was visibly confused, as neither Aerrow nor her friends had informed the other Sky Knight of how exactly they had gotten into the Tower in the first place. “Why’d you waste a perfectly good flare?” she asked, brows furrowing.

“It’s a signal for a pick up,” Aerrow explained, craning her head to try to see if Piper was on the way. For being underground in a network of metal tubing, there was surprisingly good lighting. “Just give it a minute or so.”

So they did, shifting impatiently as the time seemed to crawl. They all perked up, though, once they heard the sound of skimmers approaching.

Aerrow lifted one hand from the ladder to grab one of her weapons; she noticed the others doing the same from the corner of her eyes. Odds were that it was Piper and Radarr coming to get them, as was planned, but better to be safe.

Thankfully, the skimmers that came into view carried friendly faces. Well, Aerrow amended, Radarr’s face was friendly, if concerned. Piper just looked ready to strangle each of them, even the person she didn’t know.

“What happened to discrete?!” she whispered-yelled at them; Aerrow could practically see the steam pouring out her ears. But she did let Finn and Starling onto her Heliscooter, so she probably wasn’t as ticked off as she sounded. Aerrow and Junko got onto Aerrow’s Ultra, Aerrow giving Radarr a pat on the head when he chirruped at her in greeting.

“Good to see you too, buddy.” Then she turned to Piper. “I’ll tell you about it on the Condor. Right now, we really don’t want to be staying here any longer.”

Piper grumbled, displeased, as they flew back to the Condor, which had been turned around at some point so that it now pointed towards the exit of the tubes. 

Once Aerrow and Piper were safely in the hangar, the dark girl used the intercom to inform Stork that everybody was aboard and that they were clear to go. Then she whirled back to face them, opening her mouth for what Aerrow was sure to be a blistering rant. But she stopped, eyes catching on Starling and brain finally realizing that there was an additional person in the hangar - one that was wearing a Talon uniform, at that.

“Who is that?” she demanded, finger jabbing accusingly at Starling. 

Starling started, pointing to herself. “Ah, yes, sorry,” she then apologized, seeming to realize why Piper would be offended at her presence. Starling reached up to remove her goggles and the face mask - and Piper’s face brightened immediately, practically glowing with excitement.

“Starling!” she downright squealed. She reached forward to shake the other woman’s hand enthusiastically, beaming. “Oh my gosh, you’re like my favorite Sky Knight ever!” Starling looked bemused, but happy, while Aerrow, in the middle of removing her own Talon goggles, gave Piper an indignant look. 

She gestured to herself. “What am I, chopped liver?”

Piper blinked, then pinked slightly, looking sheepish. “Um… I mean second favorite?” she offered, shrugging.

Starling, the traitor, laughed.

Starling’s introduction to Piper and Radarr finished, the Storm Hawks agreed to change and clean up so that there could be a team meeting to discuss what had happened. Junko and Finn stayed on the second floor of the Condor to use that bathroom, while Aerrow, Piper, Radarr, and Starling climbed to the top floor. There, Piper and Radarr peeled off to go talk to Stork, while Aerrow and Starling went to find the bathroom.

“You can use the bathroom first,” Aerrow told the other Sky Knight, stopping at a closet so that she could grab a couple of towels. Though they couldn’t have been in the Tower for more than a few hours (at most), they were covered in dust from their fight. Aerrow wanted a nice, hot shower, and Starling probably thought the same. “I’ll grab you a couple of my things that you can change into while you do that. I’m only - what, three, four? - inches taller than you, and we have the same build, so everything should fit you more or less okay.”

Aerrow offered her the towel; Starling took it, nodding her thanks. Aerrow pointed out which door led to the bathroom and which to her bedroom, and let Starling know that she would leave the change of clothes outside the bathroom door.

Once the bathroom door had closed behind Straling, Aerrow made her way to her room. She stared longingly at her bed; look, it had been a long day, okay? Her day was going on - she checked the clock - hour sixteen, and at this point all she wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep. But she couldn’t, because she still had shit to do. Aerrow groaned to herself, but still went to go rummage through her closet for a shirt and pants for Starling and herself (for after her own shower), then through her dresser for a new sports bra and underwear (also grabbing a set for Starling; she didn’t know if the other woman would use them, but it didn’t hurt to offer); everything she grabbed for Starling was placed outside the bathroom door, with a knock and call to let the other woman know.

That done, Aerrow went back to her room. For the time being, Starling was taken care of, which meant that she could focus on herself. She took a seat at her vanity, a small, cheap thing placed near the window in her room. It was made of light wood, with two levels to it. It was made from light wood, with the main table having two large drawers in it, and two smaller ones stacked on top, one on either side of the table surface. The mirror, circular, was held up using those two top drawers.

It mainly had two uses: as a place for Aerrow to do any paperwork when the bridge was getting too noisy, and as a place for Aerrow to do her hair in the mornings. While she generally didn’t care how it ended up looking after the day was over, Aerrow always made sure to start the day with a neat hairdo whenever she could; her morning routine just didn’t feel complete until she had sat down in front of this mirror to fix her hair for the day.

Right now, however, Aerrow wanted it for neither of these things. Once she got the Talon gloves off her hands, she reached past the various hair elastics, bobby pins, and writing instruments that were scattered over the table, as well as her favorite paddle brush, in favour of the small drawer on the left side of the vanity. Inside it laid her prize: a small container of makeup wipes.

She opened it to grab one, then leaned over the vanity’s table to stare into the mirror so that she could start wiping the grime and disguise makeup from her face, cursing under her breath when she had to reach for another when one proved not enough to get rid of everything.

Once her face was as clean as it was going to get, Aerrow went to work on the wig that had - miraculously - managed to stay on her head during the fight. A small hill of bobby pins was keeping it on her head, so she spent the next couple after the wig was removed to just comb through her hair with her fingers removing them whenever her fingers caught on one. The last thing to go was the contacts; Aerrow had to blink a few seconds after they were removed, getting used to the feeling of seeing clearly for the first time in hours.

The Talon uniform was off next, dropped carelessly on the floor to be dealt with (burned) later. Her underwear went into a hamper; Aerrow made a mental note to run a load for herself after her shower; the hamper was getting full.

Aerrow had just started wrapping her towel around herself when a light knock was placed on her door.

“Aerrow?” Starling called. Even though Aerrow’s door was propped slightly ajar, the other Sky Knight made no move to pop her head in.

“Yeah?” she called back, finishing wrapping her towel.

“I’m done in the bathroom.”

“Cool. You can go and join Piper, Stork, and Radarr, if you want,” Aerrow offered. She moved over to her bed to pick up her change of clothes. “And if you’re hungry, just ask Piper for something.”

“Thanks.” Starling’s soft footsteps faded away.

Running her hand through her hair to give it one last check, Aerrow made her way to the bathroom for her own shower, keeping it short but raising the temperature of the water to near boiling for her aches.

Once out, she changed into her clean clothes and went back to her room, where she gave her hair a quick brush and pulled it back into a pony. Then she left for the bridge, where everyone but Finn was gathered.

Stork was at the Condor’s controls; as they were still going through the Wastelands, the Condor was still occasionally lurching hard to the sides to evade any lava eels. Everyone else was gathered at the table, which was covered in a couple dishes of pasta, bread, and a large salad, with cups of water offered as a beverage.

Aerrow ignored it for the time being, instead wandering over to Stork.

“I see you managed to not die,” he greeted her, eyes twitching back and forth as he tried to keep an eye on every threat that might pop up. “Should I offer you congratulations for managing it?”

“Nah,” Aerrow shrugged, arms coming up to cross over her chest loosely. “How much longer until we can go up?” She nodded her head to their surroundings, indicating the environment currently making the Condor a lot warmer than it normally was and casting it in an orange glow.

“Not too much,” he muttered, hand reaching up to tug at an earring. “No more than five minutes. We’ll still be in Cyclonian territory when we do, but we shouldn’t have any problems making our way out. Most of their soldiers were in that battle.” He shrugged.

Aerrow reached to put a hand on his bony shoulder. He twitched, but didn’t shrug her off. “And you’re okay to keep flying?” she asked, wanting to make sure. He didn’t look tired, but she didn’t want to push him past his limits when it wasn’t needed.

Stork nodded. “I took a nap while you guys were in the Tower,” he explained. “I’ll probably need to switch with someone so that I can get more sleep in a few hours, but other than that…” he trailed off, letting the thought complete itself.

Aerrow gave his shoulder a quick squeeze. “That’s good to hear,” she said. “Let us know if that changes, yeah?”

“Sure.”

Leaving him so that he could focus on flying again, Aerrow walked over to the round table; Finn had joined the others while she was talking to Stork and was currently stuffing his face, along with Radarr and Junko. Starling and Piper also had plates in front of them, but they were talking more than they were eating.

“... I couldn’t even begin to tell you how they were doing it,” Starling was saying to Piper, the younger listening avidly to her words. “But I did manage to steal a few pages of data from a couple of experiments, if you want it.” Starling speared a noodle with her fork.

Piper nodded excitedly. She caught sight of Aerrow and positively beamed. “Aerrow! Starling was just telling me about some of the research they were doing in the Cyclonian crystal labs and it. Is. Amazing.” Piper paused, thought about it, made a face. “Okay, well, not amazing because - y’know, Cyclonians, but amazing as in the theories they’re working on.”

“Sounds cool. What were they doing?” Aerrow snagged the seat next to Piper but directed the question to Starling, grabbing a plate and starting to load it with a decent amount of pasta, a couple slices of bread, and a large portion of salad. She poured a glass of water to help wash it all down.

Aerrow stuffed a forkful of the salad into her mouth, expecting Starling to answer. A couple beats of silence passed before Aerrow realized the other Sky Knight wasn’t answering. She glanced up, brows furrowed in confusion.

Starling had gone pale, eyes locked on Aerrow but vacant, not really seeing her.

Aerrow felt her pulse stutter. “Starling?” she asked, then repeated the name when she got no answer. This one seemed to snap the woman out of it, her eyes blinking a few times. “Are you okay?” she asked hesitantly, debating if she should put her fork down or not.

“Sorry. I’m fine. Just had a memory pop up unexpectedly,” Starling assured, face gaining back some colour.

“If you’re sure…” Aerrow trailed off, sharing a look with Piper. The blunette also looked slightly worried, but seemed willing to take Starling’s word on it; the other side of the table didn’t even realize that anything unusual had just happened, eating quickly and talking loudly.

Thankfully, Stork’s voice interrupted what looked like the beginning of an awkward silence. “We’re going up,” he called to them, tilting the Condor into a slow ascent. The scenery outside the bridge windows changed as they rose, the bridge going dark and then lightening up again as they passed through the dark clouds hovering over the Wastelands into the polluted Cyclonian air.

They were also treated to the first sight of their allies post-battle. The other squadron carriers were worse for wear, the majority of them singed with battle marks and dents and scratches. The only carrier not sporting any new marks was the Condor, and Aerrow had to force down an irrational wave of guilt by reminding herself that this had been the plan and, had it been any different, the Storm Hawks would have been in that battle too, fighting along with the other squadrons of the Free Atmos.

Still, she wasn’t able to stop the question crawling up her throat. “How many casualties?” 

The words tasted like ash.

Piper hesitated, then reached out to lay a soft hand over Aerrow’s own. “Thankfully, not that many. Maybe about five percent of our total forces, as of now. There’s about a dozen more that we’re keeping an eye on, to see if they’ll pull through or not. And there’s plenty of people with non-life-threatening injuries, of course. But overall, it wasn’t that bad.” She gave Aerrow’s hand a squeeze then retracted hers.

Aerrow shot her a grateful smile, feeling somewhat lighter, and went back to her food.

It was still sad to have lost so many people, but at least it hadn’t been worse. And as she thought about the Aurora Stone chunk she had resting on her vanity, taken out of the Talon’s uniform and placed on her vanity, she was glad that their deaths weren’t completely pointless; she at least had something to show for their sacrifice.

The flight back to Terra Atmosia seemed to pass quicker than the flight from it, since there wasn’t any tension there to drag out the minutes.

After supper, Aerrow and her friends had left for their bedrooms (or guest room, in Starling’s case, showed to her by Radarr) to crash. Exhaustion had pulled Aerrow under what felt like the second her head hit her pillow. At some point she was woken up by Stork for her shift of piloting the Condor so that he could sleep himself, but her shift only lasted an hour and then she went to wake Finn for his, and then it was back to sleep for her.

Breakfast the next morning was a late affair, Aerrow having slept until 10:00 am, along with most other people on the Condor. She was almost surprised that Starling had slept in longer than any of them, before she remembered that the other woman had spent months sleeping in enemy territory, which wouldn’t have been conducive for getting a restful sleep. Yet even though breakfast took place closer to lunch, it was no less boisterous than any other meal the Storm Hawks had shared. The teenagers had managed to pester Starling into telling them stories about her time undercover, and were delighted to listen to the purple-haired woman for the rest of the trip back to Atmosia.

All the while, once they were firmly back in Free Atmos territory, the number of squadrons the flew beside dwindled, carriers pulling off from the group to start heading back to their own terras; only a handful of squadrons had decided to go back to Atmosia in person, the others willing to receive any new news via courier in exchange for being able to go home sooner.

Not pushing as hard to get back to Atmosia as they did in getting to Cyclonia meant that the return trip took a few hours longer, so the terra only came into view around four in the afternoon, the sun starting its descent across the sky. The Storm Hawks and Starling were standing on the bridge when it first popped up in view, and there they stayed as they got closer and the terra came into focus, getting larger.

Stork set the Condor down on the same hill he had parked on just the day before. Surrounded on all sides by nothing but open grass, it served as a landing spot for all carriers when squadrons needed to come into town, usually because they had business to discuss with the Council.

The Storm Hawks and Starling exited the Condor, Starling catching a ride with Piper. They made their way over to the road that led out of the clearing and into town, pulling over once they got there to wait for the other squadrons to disembark and come join them.

After everyone was accounted for, they made their way into town; the town’s people gathered along the sides of the streets, whispering to each other as the squadrons rode past, expressions taught. It hadn’t even been two days since the Aurora Stone had been taken, yet their bodies were already held tensely and an invisible weight seemed to be pressing on their shoulders. What had previously been open faces were now closed and somber, easy smiles replaced with pinched lips and furrowed brows.

The squadrons pulled to a stop by the large tree in front of the Hall, parking in neat, parallel lines, and walked in. The receptionist from before was there, her book nowhere to be seen. She was chewing on her lip and flipping through multiple, large stacks of paper, muttering to herself. The skin around all her fingernails was torn.

Starling walked over to her and gently rapped on the desk. The woman jumped, wide eyes darting up and growing even wider at the sight of them.

“Could you gather the Council, please?” Starling requested.

The receptionist nodded quickly and muttered, “Of course. Go ahead into the right chamber. The Council members will want to talk to you as soon as possible.” She stood up, quickly brushing at her rumpled clothing before making her way to the offices at the back, strides quick.

The squadrons took their queue, filing into the room on the right and arranging themselves on the seats, each squadron getting their own row to themselves.

A heavy, oppressive silence hung over them. Clothes rustled and chairs creaked as people shifted, but other than that no one made a move to talk to anyone else.

Soon enough, four men shuffled quickly into the room, Chairman Heel among them. The squadron members all quickly stood at their entrance as they took up position behind the podium at the front of the room, Chairman Heel taking the center position and the other three men with him hanging slightly behind him.

Chairman Heel was handed a thick tome and a pen by one of the others; he placed the tome before him and flicked it open to the bookmarked page, dipped the quill into an ink pot (also handed to him), and motioned one of the other squads forward. “The rest of you may sit,” he added; the others did so.

For the next hour, Chairman Heel had each of the other squadrons recount what had happened in the battle for the Aurora Stone; he or the other Council members would occasionally ask questions for clarification, but for the most part simply recorded a simple timeline of events, starting from when the squadron had been deployed to the order to disengage from battle.

The only ones who weren’t called to the front were Aerrow and her squadron and Starling, who sat with them. The others in the room had noticed this too, taking quick looks at the Storm Hawks when they thought they could get away with it and then leaning over to talk with a squad mate. Even the other Council members would give them shrewd looks, their eyes sharp and searching.

Aerrow tried to ignore them to the best of her ability, but she could feel her shoulders tensing up as the time passed; beside her, Finn’s leg had started to bounce. 

Starling simply met any looks aimed at her cooly, and the offender was quick to look away. Aerrow envied her poker face, which betrayed nothing. Aerrow tended to be an open book, emotions splashed across her face and easy to read.

Finally, though, came the time that all other squadrons had been interviewed, leaving the Storm Hawks as the only ones who hadn’t given a mission report. Starling didn’t wait to be called, standing as soon as Heel turned in their directions to make her way to the front. Aerrow scrambled to follow her lead, face burning slightly at her gracelessness with so many eyes on her; she heard her friends hurrying to do the same behind her.

Aerrow took up a position beside Starling at the front, Radarr jumping up onto her shoulder when he got there. She shifted her weight easily to accommodate him, the action second-nature after having it happen so many times.

Heel’s weighty gaze swept over all of them before stopping on Aerrow. He tapped the end of his quill on the paper of the tome a couple of times before reaching to ink it again. “And how did your mission go?” he queried, ignoring the whispering that started up from the other squadrons; they would have assumed that the Storm Hawks would have had one, of course, but had had no real confirmation of a group of teenagers being assigned a task from the Council until he explicitly asked about it.

Aerrow felt her stomach churn; she didn’t want to admit to having destroyed the Aurora Stone, to be called rash and young and inexperienced, for Chairman Heel to look at her and find her wanting and unsuitable to be a Sky Knight.

But she also didn’t want to be the type of person to let the opinions of others make her doubt herself and her abilities, or her friends, or that what they were doing was the right thing for them, no matter their age or lack of status.

Aerrow took a deep breath, reaching into her pocket where the shard of the Aurora Stone she had picked up was resting heavy against her leg. She placed it on the podium and admitted, “The Aurora Stone has been destroyed,” making sure to look Heel in the eye as she said it. She had done what she could to get it back in one piece and when that failed, she made sure that their enemies couldn’t use the crystal against them. It might not have been the best thing to do, but she had made a decision and now was the time to defend it.

Around her, the room erupted into chaos.

In the end, it took Chairman Heel removing the other squadrons for order to be regained. Without them there shouting questions and accusations, Aerrow was able to deliver her report, starting from when the Storm Hawks first received their mission in Chairman Heel’s office to meeting Starling to confronting Cyclonis to ending up back here. But, she noted grumpily, just because the other defenders of the Free Atmos were removed from the room didn’t mean the debriefing went smoothly. Chairman Heel was content to simply listen, for the most part, but the other three men of the Council - one tall with a moustache, another short with a mustache, and the last short without a mustache - were butting in with stupid questions what felt like every other sentence that left her mouth, asking about all the little details that, in the end, didn’t factor into the mission at all.

They just wanted to see if Aerrow had made a mistake somewhere and use it as an excuse to dismiss her and her friends, to claim that they weren’t fit to be a squadron.

Aerrow was about ready to strangle them all, her hold on her temper fraying at the edges with every snooty look they gave her.

Her only saving grace was Starling, who made sure to step in and divert the conversation back at hand whenever the Council started to ask anything with no relevance to the report.

But Aerrow did manage to get through everything, even if it did take notably longer than any of the other debriefs made by the other squadrons.

And after that it was Starling’s turn to go over her mission, although she only had to start from when she met Aerrow to ending up here on Terra Atmosia; she would give a different, more in depth report later, Aerrow figured, covering the whole of her stay on Terra Cyclonia, when she and the Council were in more private quarters.

Now, talking over with, Chairman Heel put down his pen and placed his elbows on the wood in front of him, fingers lacing together as he contemplated. The other Council members behind him had displeased expressions and crossed arms, but made no move to speak.

Finally, the old man removed his glasses to rub a hand over his face, expression briefly going tired before he composed himself again.

“Of all the rash, reckless things to do,” he said to himself, shaking his head slightly. Then, louder and to the room at large, “Giving your testimony and that of Sky Knight Starling, we concede that destroying the Aurora Stone was indeed the proper course of action.” The mullish faces behind him seemed to disagree with that, but they didn’t protest it either so hey, Aerrow was taking that as a win. “Even if you had gotten it back, there’s no saying that Cyclonis wouldn’t try something else to steal it again. While the loss of the Aurora Stone is a large one, perhaps it is also a blessing in disguise - some things attract war, and the Aurora Stone was definitely a tempting enough crystal. Without a squadron to protect it, we most likely wouldn’t have been able to fend off all the attacks that came with having it.” He looked at each of the Storm Hawks standing before him and offered a nod of acknowledgment. “I would say this mission is a success, and that you did admirably in the face of opposition the likes of Master Cyclonis and Dark Ace. Well done.”

Piper perked up, taking a half step forward so that the Council’s attention fell on her. “Does that mean the Storm Hawks are official?” she asked excitedly, peeking down the line at her friends.

Finn, having been staring into space since about halfway through Aerrow’s report, straightened up from his slouch, obviously zoning back in. He wasn’t the only one, though; from his place on her shoulder, Radarr made an excited noise and Junko brought his hands up to wring his fingers together. Stork didn’t have any outwards reaction to Piper’s words, but Aerrow knew better than to take that at face value - he was just as eager as the rest of them to be official, even if he didn’t show it.

The Council muttered amongst themselves, Aerrow’s gut clenching when she saw them start to shake their heads in obvious disapproval. She was just about to tell the other girl to forget about it, that they didn’t need to be official to do what was right and help people out, when Chairman Heel raised his hand to silence the men behind them. “You may leave,” he dismissed them.

The men started to protest immediately (and loudly), berating the old man for his soft heart and his obvious decline in mental ability, but still he held firm, stating that, as leader of the Council, he had the right to make any final decisions regarding Sky Knight and squadron matters, and that their approval of his actions wasn’t needed. The three huffed and puffed and blew hot air but the wind went out of their sails soon enough, leaving them to slink out of the room while making snide comments.

Aerrow shared a quick look with her teammates, eyebrows high on her forehead. She… really didn’t know where this was going anymore.

With them out of the room, the old man slumped slightly, running his hand down his face again. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He sighed, giving them a searching look before he bent down, ruffling with something behind his desk until he produced a large book, which he plopped onto the podium. “Given your success on this mission, I think that this is only right.”

Finn nudged her in the side, leaning over to whisper, “Is that…?” trailing off at the end; and indeed it was. Heel had placed the squadron registry book on the podium, and he was flipping through the pages. He stopped once he settled onto a specific page, dipped his quill into the ink pot, and motioned Aerrow forwards, turning the book to face her once she was close enough.

Aerrow took the proffered quill, heart starting to beat unsteadily in her chest. Was he really going to let her sign? Just like that? She looked up into his face, trying to find a hint about anything he was thinking. He simply raised his eyebrow at her, gaze expectant.

She didn’t need another prompt; her signature was in that book at lightspeed, not giving him a chance to change his mind. Behind her, she could hear her friends letting out whoops of excitement and the sounds of air being crushed out of their lungs (Junko had always been the best hugger).

Heel took the quill back and turned the registry so that it was facing him again. “And which terra would you like to set up on?” he questioned.

Aerrow opened her mouth - and then promptly closed it again. Because for all that she and the others had talked about what they would need to get set up and officially recognized as a squadron, they had never actually settled on a terra to call home. Looking back, she couldn’t even remember that topic coming up at all. She bit her lip in thought, looking back at the group of people behind. They shrugged clearly at a loss as much as she was; even Piper didn’t offer up any suggestions, looking as stumped as Aerrow was.

Starling was side-eyeing them, looking contemplative. “If I may,” she offered, talking slowly, “I might have a suggestion.” At Aerrow’s nod of encouragement, she continued, “The original Storm Hawks never had a home terra; instead, they traveled all over the Atmos, helping out where it was needed.” Here she paused before shaking her head. “But that’s not to say that that’s what you should do. Nevermind, you probably want somewhere to go home to -”

Aerrow cut her off, the idea settling just right in her - and, from the looks of it, settling with her friends, too . “Starling, that’s perfect!” Lips pulling up at the corners, Aerrow turned back to the old man behind the podium. “The Storm Hawks will have no home terra. Wherever Atmos needs help, the Storm Hawks will be there,” she declared, squaring her shoulders with confidence. The idea had sunk its claws into her heart and she wasn’t going to budge on it. Chairman Heel was just going to have to deal with it.

But he simply laughed lightly, marking it down in the book. “I should have figured,” he said ruefully. He signed something on the page, then gathered up a few loose papers that he handed to her. “Your registration papers,” he told her.

Aerrow took them from him carefully, afraid to rip them after going through so much to get them. “Thank you, Chairman Heel,” she said, throat clogging slightly as her eyes stung. She blinked quickly, refusing to let the moisture gathering in them fall. No tears, not today.

He gave her a slight smile, expression proud but also sad. “Good luck, Sky Knight,” he told her. Then he motioned towards the chamber doors, dismissing them from the room. “Helena, the receptionist, will give you a cheque for the work you just did. Make sure to stop to talk to her.”

Aerrow exited in a daze, staring at the papers she held blankly. They did it. They did it. They were an official squadron and they would receive missions and pay for those missions and they wouldn’t have to worry about doing odd jobs just to get by. They would be able to get better equipment and make repairs to the Condor and -

Her stream of thought was interrupted by her friends dog-piling her just outside the chamber doors, safely on the side of the reception room. They were whooping and laughing and talking loudly (except for Starling, who was shaking her head fondly, and Stork, who simply stood to the side, looking pleased as he grabbed the paperwork from her, freeing up her hands so that she could grab her friends back, high on their and her own joy).

They were probably making fools of themselves but Aerrow didn’t care, happy to bask in this moment for a little while longer.

“So you’re going, then?” Aerrow asked, leaning against a hangar wall as Starling checked her bag; the older woman had acquired it from somewhere, telling the Storm Hawks that as much as she appreciated their hospitality, she didn’t plan on staying with them. “Things to do still,” she had explained, gathering up some supplies the teens had foisted on her.

Currently, they were the only two in the hangar. Everyone else was still upstairs and Starling had said goodbye to them already, but Aerrow had followed the other Sky Knight down, not quite ready to say goodbye. Starling was the first one to look at her and see a Sky Knight and not a kid playing pretend. Aerrow was going to miss her.

“I am, yes.” Starling slung her bag onto her shoulder, turning to face Aerrow.

“And I can’t convince you to stay?”

Starling gave Aerrow’s shoulder a sympathetic, quick squeeze. “I’m afraid not,” she said, gentle but firm. “This is your team. And I know that it’s scary, being in charge of everyone officially, but you’ll do fine. Just make sure to listen to them when they have something to say - not that I think you’ll have a problem with that. You love them and they love you - you’ll be okay. I promise.”

Aerrow could admit that the words made her feel slightly better, but still - “I don’t know if I’m ready for this. I mean, I want it, of course I do. It’s been my dream for so long. I’m just not sure how I’m going to do this.”

“The same way you’ve already been doing things,” Starling said. “You’ve been their leader since the beginning, Aerrow, and those signed pieces of paper aren’t going to change anything. Just keep doing what you’re doing and don’t worry about anything else. You don’t have to be perfect right out of the gate.” She gave a snort. “I definitely wasn’t when I first started. You’ll learn.”

Aerrow offered the other woman a small smile. She didn’t think it would be that easy, but it was nice, having someone believe in her.

Starling went to the ramp of the hangar, turning back to give Aerrow a brief salute. “It was nice meeting you, Aerrow. Good luck.”

“You too, Starling.”

The purple-haired woman exited the hangar down the ramp, not looking back once.

Aerrow watched her go until she couldn’t see her in the darkness, night having long since fallen. She breathed in the night air, looking up at the stars and just - taking everything in for a moment. Then she closed the hangar doors and went back upstairs, following the loud sounds of partying back to her family.

Chapter Text

Sandy terrain flashed by beneath her, the golden colour of the sand glinting in the sunlight. The rocky walls of the gorge rose up on either side of her, bracketed by pillars that suck out of the ground, curving over at the top and pointed. These were her target.

Placed in more or less a straight line, the rocks were spaced at just the right distance to serve as natural weave poles. Anyone going at safe speeds would be able to move between them with plenty of room to spare on either side.

For Aerrow and Radarr, who were going much, much faster than a “safe speed”, these natural rock formations were a challenge; if Aerrow went too fast, she ran the risk of either crashing into one because she didn’t have enough space or skipping over a gap between two pillars entirely. Too slow, and that meant that she wouldn’t beat the time Finn had set up from his turn of their stunt competition, allowing him to even the score to 2-2.

“Come on, come on,” Aerrow muttered under her breath, urging her skimmer to go just a little bit faster. Radarr hunkered even lower in his side car, eyes fixed forward as he made a noise of agreement.

One by one, the rock pillars flew past her, blurs of colour in her periphery as she kept her eyes ahead. She kept track as she passed them, urging her ride to go even faster, urging herself to doge even closer. She was almost there - just five more pillars… four… three…

She was gonna make it-!

Until, lead foot (er, hand?) getting the better of her, she overshot the final gap to weave through, momentum too great for her to pull her Ultra back to the right for the final weave.

She and Radarr let out simultaneous groans of defeat. She eased up on the throttle as Finn came swooping down to join them, cackling with glee.

“I believe,” he said to them smugly, “that that makes us even again. So what’s it gonna be Aerrow? You’re gonna have to make this last stunt a good one if you and Radarr don’t wanna have to clean the hangar.”

Aerrow flipped him off affectionately as Radarr blew a raspberry, eyes darting around the gorge for a suitable stunt idea when they caught on something in front of her. A dark entrance sat inlaid into a cliff wall, sunlight illuminating the cave it led to.

Aha.

“How about all or nothing?” she proposed, turning her head back to her friend. He looked intrigued, motioning her to go on. “I bet that I can go through Widow’s Cave without scraping anything or needing to turn back. If I do, I win our competition, which means I don’t have to clean the hangar this week and I get to swap a future chore with you down the line.”

Radarr made a noise of complaint but Aerrow ignored him, aware that if he really didn’t want to go through with this that he would just hop onto Finn’s skimmer instead, leaving her to whatever hair-brained scheme she came up with this time.

Finn let out a bark of incredulous laughter. “I’ll take that bet. You just missed weaving through some pillars and you think you can get through there without putting a dent on your ride? Getting cocky, Aerrow.” He wagged his finger at her in mock chastisement. “I’ll make sure to scrape you off of whatever rock you crash into,” he joked, pulling away from them. “Have fun, Radarr!”

Radarr made a noise of complaint and gave him the stink eye, Finn laughing it off as he flew out of the gorge to speed ahead.

“Ready, Rdarr?” Aerrow asked, giving him a bright grin. He simply hung his head, despairing. “Love you too, buddy!”

She opened up the throttle again, the Ultra skipping forward with a new burst of speed into the cave’s opening; immediately, the air grew cool and damp, the only sunlight coming in from cracks and holes in the cave’s ceiling, giving Aerrow just enough light to (barely) see the obstacles jutting from the ground.

Unlike the gorge, the cave wasn’t a straight line from front to back, instead having twists and turns and random rocks popping up in the middle of the ground, tall enough that Aerrow had to pull out a couple of rolls to avoid getting one of her wings taken off. The walls were also an obstacle, as they could sometimes be far enough apart that three skimmers could fly wingtip to wingtip and have room to spare, other times pinching so close together that Aerrow had to dip her wing down so that she was flying sideways, her head only a foot or two away from becoming acquaintances with the rocky walls.

Thankfully, though, the cave was short and only took about a minute of flying to clear, the other entrance to it soon coming into sight, almost blinding to look at compared to the darkness of the cave as light streamed in.

Radarr balked when he saw it, clearly noticing the slight problem that was quickly approaching: namely that the hole was taller than it was wide, and that the only way he and Aerrow were getting through it was if they lost a couple of wings.

He leapt from his seat and landed in front of Aerrow, waving his arms wildly before making a giant ‘X’ with them, shaking his head.

Aerrow just watched him, amusement curling her lips at the corner. “Too late now,” she told him, nudging her chin in the hole’s direction.

He whipped around, let out a squawk of alarm at how close they were to the small opening, and zipped back over to the co-pilot seat.

Aerrow couldn’t see him pull the lever to bring the skimmer’s wings in but she felt it, the metal frame jerking as the wings retracted and the wheels popped out, letting them sail unharmed out into the free air once more, the blue sky stretching before them. She let out a whoop of excitement, wind whipping her braid around.

Then they were in freefall, gravity exerting its influence once more. Aerrow took a moment to enjoy it, before frowning when she didn’t feel the telltale jerk of the Ultra’s wings deploying.

The ground approaching at a speed that Aerrow could honestly admit made her slightly worried, she turned to her blue friend, finding him with his hands clamped over his eyes.

“Uh, Radarr?” she asked, amused despite herself. “We’re gonna be needing those wings again, buddy.”

He peeked out from between his fingers, let out a screech of alarm, and scrambled for the lever on the side of her Ultra, yanking it up desperately. The wings deployed, catching on the air and smoothing their fall out. Aerrow hit the throttle, shooting up into the air again, no longer subjected to gravity’s pull. She joined up with Finn, who was hovering nearby, waiting for her to catch up with him.

“Well, well, well,” he said, leaning over and arms crossed over his dash, looking entertained despite his loss. “Looks like I won’t need to go scraping after all. Stork’ll be so sad that you didn’t doom yourself,” he teased. “Any new scratches?”

Aerrow puffed herself up with mock stuffiness, nose in the air. “Not a one,” she sniffed imperiously. “Which means I win and you get to deal with the hangar and whichever chore of my choosing down the line.”

“What about emotional damage?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

Her own furrowed. “Emotional damage?” she repeated, confused.

He nodded to her side, where Radarr sat. Aerrow looked - his eyes were wide and his fingers by his mouth as he chewed on his nails, fur puffed out from nerves.

She winced slightly. “Guess we gotta work on that one,” she said ruefully. “But no, it doesn’t count,” she tacked on. There was no way she was cleaning the hangar.

Finn laughed, leading the way back to where the Condor hovered in the sky.

Skimmers back in the hangar and Radarr carried up to the bridge (as he was still unsteady on his feet and Aerrow didn’t want him climbing multiple ladder rungs when he couldn’t even walk in a straight line), Aerrow got started on her chores to whittle away the time.

Normally she would have spread them out over the week, but the Council had gotten in touch recently with a mission for them. Not knowing how long it would take them to complete it, Aerrow figured it was better to do her chores as soon as possible in whatever downtime she had, leaving her free to not worry about them if things got hectic down the line.

The others would have understood if the cleaning got shunted to the side in favour of more pressing matters, of course, because it had happened before and it was sure to happen again, but Aerrow preferred to keep the communal areas as clean as possible. Messy bedrooms were whatever, since she didn’t have to live in them, but everytime the bridge started to collect junk she could feel one of her eyes twitch.

She started wit the bridge, going around and collecting everything that didn’t belong there, like her weapon cleaning kit or Stork’s weird anti-brainwashing helmet or Finn’s hair gel, and putting them into boxes, one for each of her crew and another one for miscellaneous items that belonged in another part of the Condor instead of to an individual. Then she wiped down all the horizontal surfaces and got out a mop, cleaning away the grime that had accumulated on the floor. After that came cleaning out the fridge, tossing out food that had gone bad and washing its shelves and drawers. Finally, she broke out the vacuum once the floors were dry - she loved Radarr dearly, but dear Saya did he shed; she swore that she could vacuum, put the vacuum away, and then turn around to find tufts of blue like she hadn’t cleaned at all.

Common room tidy once more, Aerrow made her way over to Piper, who had been sitting at the round table and pouring over maps and occasionally making her way to the radio during the whole of Aerrow’s clean up.

Aerrow leaned her hip against the table and crossed her arms over her chest, peering down at what the other girl was doing. “Got anything yet?” she questioned.

“I think so,” Piper answered, fingers tracing over an invisible line on the map.

“Want me to call the others?”

“If you would, please and thank you.”

“You got it.” Aerrow made her way over to the Condor’s comms and called a meeting. In a matter of minutes, everybody else was on the bridge. Everybody crowded around the bluenette as she smoothed the map out.

“Best. Plan. Ever,” the tactics specialist declared.

Stork’s ears perked and he practically teleported to her side, looming over her shoulder as he scrutinized the map. “I’m not going to like this, am I?” he asked, weary and giving Piper a strong side-eye.

Piper didn’t miss a beat, turning her head to face him while still addressing everyone at the table. “The storms building in the South-West should give us perfect cover to monitor the new Cyclonia supply lines.”

He ducked around to her other side, leaning over to look at the map more closely. “I was right. I don’t like it.” Done contributing, he slinked away from her again.

Finn, on the other side of the table, was having the complete opposite reaction to their green teammate.

“Did somebody say South-West?” he asked, a mischievous gleam entering his eyes.

“Yup,” Piper confirmed. “I overheard a freighter captain-”

Finn ignored this, talking over her. “You know what’s South-West, don’t you?”

Junko, always on the same wavelength as his best friend, leaned closer to him, playing his part. “Ooh! Lemme guess!” His eyes got bigger with his excitement. “Terra Neon’s twenty-four hour gravy buffet!”

This threw Finn off, but only for a beat. “Well, there is that,” he conceded, “but think warmer.”

Junko gave it a moment’s thought before he lit up, Finn doing the same. “Tropica!” they chorused, vibrating with glee.

Piper became visibly grumpy, slouching her shoulders and lips pulling down at the corners as the boy and Wallop hyped each other up.

Aerrow had to blink a couple of times, their enthusiasm almost physically manifesting the perfect beach scene as a background to their antics.

“Surfboards!”

“Snorkeling!”

“Umbrella drinks!”

“Sign me up!” they exclaimed, tapping imaginary fruity drinks together.

“Don’t forget your swimsuits,” Piper cut in wryly. Immediately, Aerrow pictured the two of them in tiny, matching black speedos and she had to cough a laugh into her fist at the unexpected imagery.

“Whoa!” Finn yelped, him and Junko trying to cover up like they were unsuspecting young maidens who had just been walked in on while they were changing. “Thanks, Piper. I really didn’t need to see that,” he muttered sullenly.

She smirked.

“As entertaining as that was,” Aerrow interrupted, tone still noticeably amused if the glare Finn shot her way indicated anything, “we can’t just change our trajectory for a vacation period. This task was assigned to us by the Council and it needs to be completed.” The two drooped in disappointment. “But,” she continued, giving them a fond smile, “there’s nothing saying we can’t stop by after observing the Cyclonians. That work for you?”

Finn and Junko high-fived each other with cheers. Piper sighed but didn’t argue, shaking her head in exasperation.

“Stork!” Aerrow said. He jumped at being addressed but turned to look at her, eye twitching. “Set a course for the South-West. We’ve got a supply line to spy on!”

He groaned with dismay but obligingly set course, muttering about everything that was sure to go wrong all the while.

Gradually, the sky around them darkened from a clear blue to a cloudy gray and then into black as they flew closer and then into the storm. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, practically no separation between the two events occurring. Rain was pelting at the windows and the wind was buffeting the Condor, jerking the battle cruiser around like a dog with a tug toy. Aerrow and her friends were forced to brace themselves at the common room table, since trying to walk anywhere was likely to end up with them getting pitched around.

Stork, at the helm as (almost) always, was twitching almost constantly and jumping at every clap of thunder.

Piper leaned over her map, examining it for a moment. “We’ll be passing over Terra Gale soon. It could get choppy,” she warned, ignoring Finn’s subsequent mutter of, “And it isn’t now?”

Stork let out a groan.

Aerrow frowned, taking in the tense line of his shoulders. Cautiously, she walked over to him, trying not to move hastily so that her balance wouldn’t be thrown off. A hand on his shoulder made him startle. Aerrow gave him a concerned look. “How are you holding up?” she asked.

“How does it look like I’m doing?” he asked slightly waspishly, turning back to the front.

Aerrow bit her lip, unsure about her next course of action. Stork could obviously use a break, but that came with the problem of letting somebody else steer the Condor in this storm. While they could do it, the rest of them weren’t nearly as adept at it as Stork was. And with choppy air coming up…

Aerrow had just decided to say screw it when the Condor’s alarms started blaring. Stork, instantly rejuvenated, ran to the periscope, heedless of the Condor’s jerky movements. Aerrow was jealous - they may as well have been flying through clear skies with how little Stork looked to be affected by the rolling movement underneath him.

And speaking of - Aerrow hastened to latch onto the Condor’s steering, trying to get the ship back under control. “Junko, a little help?” she called, arms straining. He would have much better luck fighting against the storm to keep them steady.

Junko scooted his way over to relieve her of her unexpected piloting, freeing Aerrow to go bother Stork. He had stopped swinging the periscope around wildly and seemed to be locked onto something. “Incoming and closing fast!” he called, pulling back to give his teammates a sinister grin. “We’re doomed.” But still he went back over to the controls and hit the button to turn on the shields.

Just in time too, as a lightning strike illuminated the sky outside the Condor and allowed Aerrow to see the incoming projectile. It was fairly large and white, and when it hit the shields a loud crash reverberated through the room. It bounced off, falling to the flight deck below. Aerrow approached the windows to peer down through the darkness, trying to make out what exactly had just come flying at them.

It turned out to be… a toilet?

Finn was just as confused from his new spot beside her, table abandoned in favour of finding out what was going on. He turned to Stork to ask, “Exactly what kind of doomed are we talking about here?”

“Aerrow!” Piper called, drawing the red-head’s attention away from the flying toilet. “We might want to check this out before any other random appliances decide to attack us, don’t you think?”

It wasn’t really phrased like a question but Aerrow nodded her agreement anyway. Anything that might hit them probably wouldn’t break through the Condor’s shields, but Aerrow’s curiosity had been piqued and now she wanted to know more.

She turned to the Wallop and Merb. “You guys good to hold this place down?”

Junko nodded with a smile and Stork gave a grimace and a shrug, making an “iffy” gesture with his hand.

“Good enough,” she decided. “The rest of you are with me. We’re going out to see if we can figure out what that” - she gestured below to the toilet - “was all about. Wheels up in two.” So saying, she sprinted to the hangar with the others on her heels (or, in Radarr’s case, on her shoulder, as he grabbed on as she passed him), absently noticing that the Condor was no longer jerking so badly.

Huh, she thought. Why is it so calm right now? Aren’t we still in the storm?

But the thought would have to wait. For the moment, she wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth; she could fly in a storm no problem, sure, but that didn’t mean she liked getting soaked to the bone. She’d concentrate on flying bathroom necessities first, weird storm second.

She, Radarr, Finn, and Piper hadn’t even been flying for a minute when an answer presented itself to one of her questions.

One moment the had been flying through dark clouds - thankfully devoid of strong winds and pouring rain - and Piper was telling them that this part of Terra Gale was deserted, and the next the sky was clearing abruptly, revealing spinning windmill blades just soon enough for the dark-skinned girl to avoid them, letting out a shriek of surprise.

Piper looked behind her incredulously. 

“You sure about that?” Aerrow teased.

Piper stuck out her tongue.

The windmill blades were positioned on a little house sitting at the edge of a small terra that was in turn on the outskirts of the mainland of Terra Gale. There was a chicken coop and some fruit trees also present on the floating island, as well as a bridge to connect it to another smaller terra right beside it, but other than that it seemed to be deserted. It was surrounded on all sides by a clear sky, completely untouched by the storm.

Aerrow tuned back into Piper’s and Finn’s conversation in time to hear her say, ”...supposed to be deserted because of the location. These satellite terras are really small, and it would be a long commute to get to any of the major villages or the main town from here. Even if people want to get out into the country and away from other humans, they still generally stick closer than this for convenience.”

“Think we should -”

A bolt of red energy whizzed past them and, startled by the unexpected attack from the rear, the three of them peeled away from each other. A group of Talons came swooping after them - two each after Piper and Finn, but only one on Aerrow - hot on their tails.

First things first, she thought to herself, spotting the Condor emerging from the clouds on her right. She gunned towards it, plan taking shape in her mind. “You know, I don’t think I like this guy trying to get close enough to be my shadow,” she said idly to Radarr. “What do you say we switch things up?”

He made a sound of agreement and pointed to the Condor in silent question.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” she agreed. She shot underneath the pontoon on the far side of the bridge and pulled up, her back to its metal as she looped around it. When she got to the flight deck, though, she kept going with her loop instead of exiting it, coming back around to the bottom of the pontoon. There, she did a quick roll, allowing the bottom of her skimmer to face the metal surface, doing another half-circle before she pulled away from the Condor.

As she had hoped, she was now behind the Talon instead of in front; as he looked from left to right she caught up to him, rolling over again as she pulled even so that she was flying directly over him, staying upside down the entire time.

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing and giving the game away, taking a moment to stew in her mirth. He hadn’t once looked up, and Aerrow honestly thought that she could probably get away with doing this indefinitely. Not the sharpest tool in the box, is he? She shared a look with Radarr, who seemed to be having a similar thought himself; he was grinning too, lips pulled back and fangs on display.

Good things must come to an end, though, so she pointed between herself and Radarr and tilted her head to the side to convey the silent question: who’s going to get rid of him?

Radarr answered by climbing from his sidecar to her seat in front of her, taking the controls. She gave him a pat on the head, removing her hands from the throttle to place grab onto her seat and grab tight, bracing her arms to hold her weight up. Then she turned her upper body to face one side and let go of her skimmer with a leg, pulling it up and under her so that she was sitting side-saddle, Radarr reaching back to hold her legs steady since she could no longer grip her ride with her knees. 

Once she was in position she gave him a nod. He rolled over to the left and, once she was more or less right side up, she let go, legs reaching down so that she was basically stepping down from her own skimmer onto the Talon’s, being careful to land as lightly as possible while Radarr distracted the man by coming into his line of sight. 

Radarr gave the Talon a wave, cheeky smile in place.

“Huh?” he said, bewildered.

Aerrow, ever the one to help clear up confusion, helpfully tapped him on the shoulder. He turned and was promptly met with a foot to the face, sending him flying off his Switchblade backwards, unable to hold on. No one at the controls and auto-pilot not engaged, the skimmer immediately started to drop. Aerrow happily abandoned ship, leaping straight into the air with no hesitation - Radarr was always there to catch her and this time proved no different. She had barely started to drop from the zenith of her jump when her feet met solid metal, landing her safely on the wing of her skimmer.

Radarr gave her a salute that she returned as she got back into her seat.

They didn’t have long to celebrate, however, as another Talon took the place of his comrade almost immediately after, doing his best to blast them out of the sky. Feeling cheeky and a little bit cocky and mostly wanting to piss him off, Aerrow made sure to put in as many fancy maneuvers she could as she flew ahead of him, taunting him. She was mostly waiting for Radarr to find something suitable to chuck at him, and pushing his buttons was too good of an opportunity to pass up while she waited for her co-pilot.

In the end, though, it wasn’t Radarr or her or any of her other teammates that got rid of him - no, that honour belonged to a mattress. An honest to Saya mattress. One moment it was clear skies and the next the white projectile was acquainting itself with the Talon’s face and off he went, falling down below the cloud cover.

“Uh,” she said eloquently. Finn and Piper joined her again, obviously having taken care of their own opponents, and the blond pointed towards where the mattress had travelled.

“Is that a mattress?” he asked, proving that no, Aerrow wasn’t hallucinating. She nodded her head in disbelief. First a toilet, now this?

Piper reached into the satchel that hung on the side of her Heliscooter. She produced a pair of binoculars that she brought to her face, tracing the mattress’ arc through the air in the vague direction it had come from. “I don’t believe it!” she said, leaning over like that would somehow make whatever she was seeing become more clear. “Look!”

She tossed the binoculars over to Finn, who took his own turn looking through them. When he pulled back, he looked even more confused than before.

“Well?” Aerrow prompted, raising a brow.

“It’s an old guy wearing a stove,” he reported, handing the binoculars back to Piper to store away.

“What?” She couldn’t have heard that right.

“It’s an old guy wearing a stove,” Finn repeated. Aerrow turned to Piper, hoping the other girl would elaborate, but she simply shrugged.

“O…kay,” Aerrow said. “Then we’ll go check this guy out, I guess. He should be fine, right? I mean, he only targeted the Cyclonians, so he should be a friendly to us.” She rubbed at the back of her neck. “Just… look out for any other flying household objects.”

The other three didn’t see a problem with this so she led them down, keeping a wary eye on the terra below. But just as before, the terra appeared to be deserted, not a soul in sight - wearing a stove or not; and yet she knew, logically, that that couldn’t be the case because there was a worn path on the terra leading from the house to the chicken coop and the fruit trees and what appeared to be, on closer inspection, a small garden full of veggies.

She made sure to touch down on the trodden path, not wanting to accidentally damage anything, and pulled over at a large, thick tree that sat apart from the others and bore no fruit.

Bewilderingly, a catapult sat beside it. Various objects were strewn about at its side, from pots and pans to a stove and kitchen sink.

“Well, I guess we know how hermit guy is getting inanimate objects to fly,” Finn remarked dryly, dismounting. He went over to inspect the pile of junk, lightly kicking things over to see what else was accumulated as ammo.

Piper, on the other hand, was looking around. “Where do you think he went?” she wondered, taking a peek around the tree.

Aerrow shrugged, walking over to join Finn with Radarr on her heels. She lifted the cap off the round, metal stove, absently noting that it had four holes carved into the sides, two high and two low. Her brow furrowed slightly. That’s weird. Why would there be holes? Defective manufacturer?

Finn picked up a pot and tossed it up in the air with a flourish, catching it when it came back down to point at the house sitting at the top of the hill. “He’s probably just getting more ammo,” he dismissed, throwing the bucket to the side.

It made an odd sound when it hit the ground - the kind of sound a wire would make when it was disturbed.

Aerrow’s feet left the ground very quickly shortly thereafter. One moment she was poking around, the next she was getting Finn’s elbow to the shoulder, Radarr’s fur in her mouth, and Piper’s foot planted in her stomach. She let out an oof at the unexpected jab, more out of surprise than pain.

The realization that they had all been caught in a net and hauled up to hang from a tree branch had barely sunk in when an older man - whom she was going to assume had been the one Piper and Finn saw - popped out of the stove she had, almost literally, just checked.

How the fuck -? He wasn’t in there when I lifted the lid!

The old man gave a mad sort of chuckle, shaking his fist up at them. “Ha ha!” he celebrated. “I’ve got you now, Cyclonian swine!” 

Aerrow, insulted at being compared to a Cyclonian, immediately began to protest, Piper, Finn, and Radarr doing the same, but the old coot ignored them. He searched through his pile of junk, popping back up with an axe in his hand.

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Finn yelped, squiggling around in the net. “Can you put that down, please? I’m too good looking to get murdered by some lunatic in the middle of nowhere!”

“Phah!” the old man spat. “As if I’d waste getting your blood on my good axe.” Finn slumped against Aerrow, relieved, but Aerrow tensed up. He had said that he wasn’t going to kill them with his axe - not that he wasn’t going to kill them at all. 

He proved her right a second later, pushing the catapult below them and then chopping at the ropes holding the four of them up. They fell onto the catapult, free from the tree but not their makeshift prison, which was still tied tight at the top.

“No,” he said, relish in his words as he heaved against the wooden construct. Aerrow fervently hoped that their combined weight would be too much for him to move, but the man proved to be stronger than his short frame would suggest. Once he got them rolling, it looked like it took him no great effort to position them at the edge of the terra, blue skies the only thing on the horizon. “This is what happens when you mess with the Resistance. Into the Wastelands for you!” This last part was declared cheerfully as he rubbed his hands together with glee.

“Wait!” Piper exclaimed, a note of hysteria creeping into her voice once the weird old guy started reaching for the catapult lever. 

Aerrow did notice that the old man did, for whatever reason, stop reaching for the lever, but her concentration was mostly focused on the net holding them captive. She gave a tug at two opposite sides of one of the holes in the net, delighted to find that the material that made it was actually quite elastic. It would never be able to stretch enough for a human to escape, no, but lucky for her, she didn’t need it to. She just needed it to stretch enough to let out, say, a blue-furred creature that was skinnier than he appeared at first glance, once all his fur had been flattened.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Aerrow pulled the netting as far apart as possible, trying to make the hole as big as she could. “Radarr!” she barked.

She had to deal with Radarr crawling over her head and planting a foot in her face to make his escape, but she would gladly take that instead of the alternative.

Radarr dropped to the ground and launched himself at the strange man as soon as his feet hit the terra. The stranger, thrown off-kilter by the escape of one of his “prisoners”, wasn’t quick enough to dodge her furry friend, and Radarr’s teeth buried deep into his leg; he yowled, reached to swat at Radarr, missed. When that didn’t work he tried shaking his leg, only to go stumbling away, balance lost, as Radarr let go and darted up the tree instead, making a beeline for the rope tying the net together.

Quick as a flash, the net came tumbling down, letting Aerrow, Piper, and Finn drop down from the catapult, hands reaching for their weapons. The old man, only just having regained his footing from his unexpected tumble, blinked a few times at them, seemingly stunned the situation had reversed itself so quickly.

He recovered swiftly, though, hands coming up into… a weird fighting stance? Maybe? Aerrow honestly couldn’t tell what he was trying to do. She exchanged a bemused look with her companions, silently vowing to herself that she was going to find some way to block this from her memory. She absolutely refused to acknowledge, in any shape or form, that this man had managed to capture them, no matter how briefly. Her pride couldn’t take it.

“So you’ve freed yourselves, huh?” he said, still waving his fists around. “Well then, we’ll just have to tussle like good, old-fashioned trench rats! I should warn you that I was a pretty good scrapper back in the day!” he boasted. Aerrow stared at him in complete disbelief. It was four-on-one and unless he had any other traps laying around, there was no way he would possibly win that fight. 

Finn evidently agreed with her. “Oh forget it,” he sighed. He slung his crossbow onto his back, marched up to the old man, and decked him across the face.

He went down like a bag of bricks.

Finn nudged him with his foot to be sure, then turned back to the other three. “Now what?”

“Now what” started with them calling Junko and Stork to let them know what happened (in abridged format, mind) to make sure everyone was okay and that there were no more Cyclonians flitting about. Then it evolved to Junko and Stork parking the Condor under the terra and flying up to meet them. After that came moving the weird guy back into what was presumably his house, plopping him down gently on the couch so that they could figure out what to do once he woke up. Finally, they decided their plan was thus: make sure the old guy didn’t have any potential weapons within reach, then grill him about what the hell he was doing once he finally regained consciousness.

Plan of action decided, they patted themselves on the back and went to investigate the house and its surrounding area, unashamedly snoopy. Aerrow, Radarr, and Junko, feeling slightly bad about knocking an old guy out (but not too bad), went to pick a few fruits from the trees and some veggies from the garden to cut up for everybody, old guy included, to share once he came to. Aerrow was hoping that it would soften him up some, to show him that they weren’t going to harass him or hurt him (...anymore than they already had).

Not even a quarter of an hour had passed before the strange man’s eyes snapped open. He let out a groan as he sat up, hands raising to rub at his face. Once they lowered again, he jerked back, obviously taken aback by six strangers hovering over him, the largest one of them offering a platter of his own food to him with a guilty smile.

(Aerrow didn’t blame him.)

He eyed it - and them - wearily before turning his nose up. “Ha!” he snorted derisively. “Nice try, but I will never tell you Cyclonian swine anything!”

Piper’s eye visibly twitched. “We’re not Cyclonians!” she near-yelled. Aerrow quickly grabbed her arm and guided her back the step she had unconsciously taken forward, not willing for the bluenette to take another swing at the man while he was already down.

“We’re the Storm Hawks,” Aerrow hastened to add, hoping that the name would spark recognition.

The old man blinked up at them confusedly. “Chicken Hawks?” he questioned.

So much for that.

“The good guys,” Aerrow clarified, conveniently skipping over the fact that they had punched the guy before asking him any questions and then broken into his house. She quickly continued, “We’re a squadron, officially recognized by the Council.”

Weird guy - and she really should find out what his name was - gave her a sceptical look. “And who is your commanding officer?” he asked.

“That would be me,” Aerrow told him. He was up in a flash, leaning uncomfortably close to her as his gaze wandered over her face. He gave a couple of contemplative hums before finally leaning back, arms crossing over his chest.

“Fine. I’m willing to accept that you are as you say and not Cyclonians.” His eyes wandered over all of them for a final time before turning back to her. “My name is Wren, leader of the Resistance here on Terra Gale.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Wren. I’m Aerrow.” Aerrow offered him her hand, giving it a shake herself and then moving out of the way so that her teammates could introduce themselves and shake Wren’s hand as well. 

Once the introductions were over, Wren insisted on having them over for lunch, waving away their protests and insisting that it was important to eat after a battle. He sent Piper and Finn out to get more vegetables from his garden for a simple vegetarian soup, then set Radarr and Stork to work peeling and cutting the collected veggies as he started on the base of the soup.

Aerrow, feeling awkward with nothing to do, slid up next to Wren. “Anything I can do to help?” she asked.

“No, no,” Wren chuckled, “go sit down, Dove.” It was said without thought, evident by the way the old man froze the next second.

Aerrow hesitantly leaned against the counter next to him, arms resting on the counter top. “You okay?” she asked softly.

Wren gave a small, wry shake of his head and shrugged. “Yes, yes, I’m fine.” But the both of them could tell that his heart wasn’t in it, his mood considerably dimmed from what it had been before.

There was a moment of silence before the man let out a weary sigh, putting his spoon down so that he could rub at the crown of his head. “No, I’m not fine,” he admitted after a few more beats. “I’m not fine at all.”

“Would you like to talk about it?” Aerrow offered.

Wren was silent for the next few moments; when a green finger tapped him on the shoulder, he turned and took the cutting board covered in chopped vegetables from Stork, who offered him a sad, but understanding, smile. He pushed them into the soup and gave them a stir.

“This place here,” he gestured around them, “it’s one of the few remaining pieces of Terra Gale that remains free from the Cyclonians. There are a few other small towns along the very fringes of the terra but, well.” He shook his head before gesturing at the house around him - small (though loved), slightly run down and missing a large amount of furniture, with more than a few places in it needing some sort of repair. “I said I was the leader of the Resistance, but it’s not exactly as it used to be.” His voice was subdued.

“May I ask what happened?” Piper asked hesitantly. Aerrow took a quick look over her shoulder to see that all her friends had gathered around the kitchen island behind her and Wren, clearly able to hear whatever the old man was saying but not wanting to intrude too obviously.

Wren also looked back at the young girl, lips quirking up with the slightest hint of fondness. “You are good kids,” he told all of them. “I don’t know how I could mistake you for Cyclonians.” He gave a small shake of his head before turning his attention back to the soup. Still, his next words were louder so that the others behind them would be able to hear what he said. “What happened? Well, I imagine what happened here is what normally happens to any part of the Free Atmos. Terra Gale was a magnificent kingdom, but then the Cyclonians came.

“It started with Talons flying over our home, then launching attacks on the settlements on the outskirts of the terra. Then, once they had managed to gain control of a small area and keep it, they started to expand out towards the larger towns. Still, though, we were managing to hold them off - we even had them in a stalemate a few years back that had lasted for months. We thought we were going to do it, you know, to hold out.” Wren let out a bitter scoff.

“And then something changed,” Aerrow realized, heart sinking.

“And then something changed,” Wren agreed. He pointed out his window into the distance; a crystal factory stood tall and imposing from the highest mountain of Terra Gale, spewing thick smoke into the air. “The Cyclonians gained control of the factory,” he told them, “and then it was all over. We couldn’t regroup after we lost it; Talons started to advance their territory again, and it was all we could do to slow them down. The Rebel Ducks started to lose squadron members every large skirmish; people would sign up to replace the ones we lost, but we could all tell that it wasn’t going to last.

“You know, we could have handled those last two things. We’re a hearty people - losing some land wouldn’t have bothered us in the least, and losing friends would have been hard, but we could have worked through the grief.” His features suddenly twisted sharply, grief swapped for anger. “But that factory!” he spat. “All those crystals in the hands of the Cyclonians is what screwed us over. With the crystals, we actually had a chance. Without them, it was a massacre.

“The worst part is that people of Terra Gale are forced to work those mines so that the Talons have a steady supply of crystals. The only people exempt are farmers, and that’s only because even pigs like the Cyclonians need to eat. Everybody else though? It’s work in the mines or be beaten to near death, though with how hard they work my people, I’m not sure one isn’t the same as the other.”

Wren accepted the stack of bowls Junko had gotten for him, ladling a portion of soup into each, Junko passing out each bowl once it received its portion until everybody had something to eat. The group crowded around the small table in the living room, pressed tightly together from a lack of space but no one daring to complain.

Aerrow had a couple of spoonfuls, savouring the warm liquid, before daring to approach the next topic on her mind. She swirled her spoon around the bowl, watching the liquid move and the chunks of vegetable shift. “Are the mines what happened to Dove?” she finally inquired.

Wren gave a rueful chuckle. “I shouldn’t have thought you would forget about that.” Aerrow tried to backtrack quickly but he only waved her off. “Yes, the mines are what happened to Dove. Two weeks ago, the Talons finally received reinforcements from their higher ups. Before then, it had mostly been foot soldiers doing the heavy lifting, but I think Cyclonis finally decided that we’ve caused her enough trouble and wanted us to be snuffed out quickly so that there were no more freedom fighters for Terra Gale.” Wren paused in his own eating to dig around in his shirt, fishing out a piece of paper that he passed to Aerrow.

It was a photograph of a young girl who looked to be only a couple years younger than Aerrow herself. Though she was wearing pots and pans as makeshift armour, she was smiling widely, eyes glinting with her happiness. Aerrow passed the picture along to Radarr so he could take a look and then pass it on in turn.

“They took her,” Wren told them. “And I don’t know for how much longer I can go on without her. When I lost my daughter - her mother - in a Talon raid on the main village, I was devastated. But I knew that I needed to take care of Dove. But now that she’s gone…” he trailed off, eyes turning unbearably sad. “I’m an old man. I’m slowing down. She was my whole reason for living. With her gone, I’m having a hard time remembering to fight the good fight. Oh, I still have my moments of harassing the Talons, as you saw, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t amount to much.” Wren paused, then added, “Plus I’m running out of ammo. And what’s left of the Resistance isn’t doing very well either. If our squadron was freed from the prison, then maybe things would be different, but as it stands…” Wren took the photo back from Stork, running a finger over its surface before tucking it back away. “I think I’m going to go back outside, soak in some of that sunshine. Help yourself to whatever you need.”

He stood up to bring his bowl and spoon to the kitchen sink, moving like he had aged a decade in just a few minutes. Then he moved to the door, closing it quietly behind him and leaving the rest of them in silence.

Aerrow stared after him, contemplative.

“Alright, what’s the plan?” Finn asked, snapping her out of it.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, turning back to her squadron. All of them were looking at her, expectant, causing her to shift in her seat.

“That’s your “we have to help them” face,” Finn explained, gesturing at her.

“I don’t have a “we have to help them” face,” Aerrow denied, feeling called out. She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Yes you do,” Piper deadpanned.

Aerrow sulked but they ignored her, turning to Piper instead as she started listing objectives and ways to accomplish them.

At one point Wren had come back in while they were still planning their excursion. Upon hearing what they planned on doing, he immediately tried to convince them to stop.

“It’s very kind of you to think of me,” he had told them, “but doing this for a man you’ve just met is ridiculous!”

Aerrow had offered him a sunny grin before steamrolling over his protests. “Don’t worry about it!” she waved off airily. “This is the type of thing we live for and nothing is going to be able to change our minds.”

On it went for the next few hours, Wren trying to talk some sense into any one of them while they all feigned deaf. It was only once the sun had set and they were headed out the door that Wren’s shoulders slumped, defeated.

“Then at least take this,” he now pleaded, rooting in a pants pocket and pulling out a large green stone. “It’s a wind stone, purest grade,” he explained, handing it over to Piper. “I still think you’re all crazy, but thank you for doing this.” Wren offered each of them a handshake, pausing at Aerrow to give her a soul-searching look; Aerrow stayed firm, refusing to budge, and he sighed.

“We can’t promise good news,” Aerrow reminded him. “But the least we can do is look.”

Wren nodded, reaching over to pat her hand, which he still had captive in one of his. “I know,” he assured. “But even this is more than I could ever have asked or hoped for. Thank you, Aerrow.”

Aerrow offered him one last smile, then she and her friends were out the door. They needed to make a quick stop at the Condor to drop off Stork and grab a few things, but then it was go time.

So, here’s the thing: zero-vision landings? Highly not recommended. 0/10, never do if there’s other, less dangerous options available.

That said, if Aerrow and her friends didn’t want to be shot out of the sky - which they didn’t - then they were going to need some cloud cover. Hence Finn dropping an unstable water crystal into a factory smokestack, allowing for enough steam for the Storm Hawks to go cruising into Cyclonian territory without drawing too much attention to themselves. Hopefully the guards would be too busy trying to find out why there was a “malfunction” to pay attention to possible intruders.

Now, they had been preparing to go in without being able to see anything, but thankfully they no longer had to do that because of Wren’s wind crystal. Thanks to it, Piper was able to give them a clear field of view ranging a few feet in front of them as they glided over the smokestacks. Still not the best conditions for landings, but it was better than going in completely blind.

Once everyone had touched down and dismounted their skimmers, Aerrow turned to her friends. “So what are the odds we remember exactly where we parked these?” Considering they had made sure to find a dark a corner as possible in the hopes of trying to hide their skimmers from any patrol paths, probably not good.

As if in agreement, Finn gestured to their surroundings… which all looked the same with no distinguishable features.

Aerrow winced. Fair point. But this is why we have a Piper!

She turned to the other girl, who had her arms crossed over her chest, eyebrow raised and unimpressed. “You’re lucky I had already thought of this, you know,” she said, digging through her satchel and bringing out a can of red spray paint. “We’ll use this to make little dots as we go,” she informed them, tossing it up and down. “I have a few more in my bag in case we end up splitting from each other.” She gave her bag a little shake, prompting small clangs to resonate.

Aerrow shot her a quick, relieved smile and a thumbs up. She got an eye roll in return, but she could see Piper’s lips twitching up at the corner.

“Now we just need to find ourselves a few uniforms.”

This step of the plan also turned out to be fairly easy. With smoke popping up for seemingly no reason, there were quite a few Cyclonian mechanics crawling around the smokestacks, each of them travelling in no more than two to a group and checking each stack separately to make sure there would be no other malfunctions. All in all, very convenient targets for Aerrow and her friends, who promptly ambushed a group and helped themselves to two of their uniforms and their toolbox.

Radarr deposited himself into his new hiding space, the box’s lid having been stabbed with a screwdriver so he could breathe, and took charge of the spray cans so that he could mark their way as they went once they found disguises for Junko and Piper.

This took a little bit more maneuvering (and Aerrow and Finn almost getting caught), but they did eventually - ahem - relieve two Talon foot soldiers of their uniforms, ducking behind a smokestack quickly so that Piper and Junko could get changed before setting off, Radarr popping out of the toolbox whenever the coast was clear to mark the ground.

This was where their plan - didn’t go wrong per say, but rather started to have a little bit of rough sailing. Getting into the factory proper? Easy peasy, almost laughably so. The four of them didn’t even need to flash their stolen badges. The schmucks at the door just let them in once they got close enough.

The inside of the factory, however, wasn’t as easy. Much like outside, inside had metal everywhere the eye could see, with everything looking similar to everything else. Let Aerrow be the first to say that nothing was as confusing - and frustrating - as leaving what seemed to be a standard loading area full of crates into what was also a standard loading area full of crates.

She could feel her eye twitching the longer they went without finding where the prisoners of Cyclonia were kept. Her temper was fraying, quickly.

“I say we grab the next guard to pass by us,” she huffed, reaching to pull the maintenance uniform cap further down. “See if we can’t convince him to tell us where the prisoners are.”

Even Piper was looking just about ready to agree with her, which was saying a lot. Finn might have had the most patience when it came to sitting still and observing a target, but Piper was the one with iron control when it came to infiltration missions; she almost never acted rashly, always preferring to stick to the plan and only deviating from it when it was absolutely necessary.

“Um, guys?” Finn piped up. “Lookie who I found.”

The other three turned to him, following his pointing finger. There, against a metal wall and peering around the corner, stood a girl with short, black hair. Though she was missing her armour and appeared more haggard than in the photo Wren had shown the Storm Hawks earlier, there was no doubt that this girl was Dove, his granddaughter and one of their targets for this mission.

There was a small rattle that drew Aerrow’s attention down to the ground. There, sitting almost innocently, was a ball and chain, shackled to the young girl’s ankle. Aerrow felt one of her eyebrows raise in disbelief. For a brief moment she stared, incredulous that the Cyclonians would go so far. The girl was tiny, it just seemed like overkill - and then Dove reached down, casual as you please, and lifted the damn thing with insulting ease.

Nevermind. Clearly, if the Cyclonians didn’t want her going anywhere, they should have tried attaching one weight to each limb - apparently there was no way anything less would be slowing Dove down.

Unthinkingly, Aerrow called out to her. “Dove!” Her voice echoed off the walls, taking on a tinny edge.

The other girl turned automatically at her name being called, spotted them, blanched, then booked it down the hallway to her right. The others stared after her, stunned.

It was Junko who realized it first. “We’re still dressed like Talons, aren’t we?” he contemplated, looking down at their uniforms and clueing the others in as to why the young girl might be fleeing at the very sight of them.

The others made noises of understanding; then there was a mad scramble as they hastened to follow after the fleeing girl. They made it into the hallway Dove had fled down just in time to see her whipping around a corner, disappearing from view.

Aerrow cursed herself for her carelessness under her breath. Stupid, stupid, stupid! she berated mentally. She should have gotten closer to the other girl before trying to talk to her. Of course Dove would freak out if somebody unfamiliar called out her name while she was sneaking around enemy territory, doubly so if that someone turned out to be with a group of other people, all of them wearing Cyclonian uniforms of some kind.

“Aerrow!” Junko called to her, prompting the red-head to look over her shoulder at him as they ran. The Wallop pointed to the toolbox hiding Radarr. “Toss me the box!”

Understanding shot through Aerrow at one. “Great idea, Junko!” she praised, turning around from the front of the pack to run backwards a few steps. Trusting him to catch Radarr, she didn’t hesitate to swing her arm back and then let it fly forward; she didn’t bother to see the arc it made in the air, hopefully into her friend’s arms and not onto the ground - it wouldn’t hurt the blue creature by any means, but it also wouldn’t be fun if the toolbox hit the ground.

She faced forward again as soon as the box was out of her hands, arms starting to swing faster and strides lengthening now that she didn’t need to run with one side weighed down more than the other. While Stork was undoubtedly the fastest of their group, it was also common knowledge that Aerrow took that particular title whenever the Merb wasn’t in the room. Junko, recognizing that, had offered to take over carrying Radarr, allowing Aerrow the chance to pull ahead of the group. He knew just as well as she did that they only had one chance to grab Dove and complete their mission, so they couldn’t afford having the girl squirrelling away while they tried to find her.

Determination burning through her, Aerrow took her chance to speed up, turning down the hallway Dove had fled down before anyone else in her group. Thankfully, it turned out to be a simple corridor, straight except at the very end, where one could choose to turn left or right. Dove was just about halfway down it, trying to move quickly but obviously impeded by the heavy ball she was carrying in her arms.

Aerrow thought about calling out to the other girl again, then decided against it. There was no need to draw any possible attention towards them by yelling out names of prisoners in areas that really shouldn’t have said prisoners.

Alrigthy then, old fashioned way it is, Aerrow thought, huffing out a sharp breath. The ground between them was closing quickly, the shorter girl not able to outrun the Sky Knight chasing after her.

As soon as Aerrow was close enough, she reached out her hand, snagging the other girl’s arm and immediately putting on the brakes once she was sure her hold on Dove was secure, forcing her to slow down.

In response, Dove pivoted sharply, using the ball in her hands to try to brain Aerrow and, when that didn’t work, Aerrow ducking, instead dropped it, forcing Aerrow to abandon her grip on her so that she could shuffle back, just barely avoiding having the ball land on her foot.

Quick as a whip, Aerrow secured her hold on Dove again, keeping her still as her teammates caught up and Dove started to struggle even harder. “Dove!” Aerrow called quietly, hoping that her words could pierce through the panic that was taking over the younger girl. “It’s okay, Wren sent us!”

Like magic, Dove stopped struggling, turning wide, scared eyes onto Aerrow’s face instead of darting them around. “Grandpapa?” she questioned, movements stilling.

Aerrow cautiously let go of Dove’s arm, readily certain that the other girl wasn’t going to make a break for it again. Besides, it wasn’t like she would be able to go anywhere - she’d need to pick up the weighted ball again before she could, and there was no way for her to do that quickly enough without one of the others grabbing her first.

“Right,” Finn agreed. “Old guy, about yay tall” - he gestured - “likes wearing a stove, for some reason.”

That had Dove letting out a quiet, shy giggle. “That does sound like him,” she said. “Then you’re here to free me?” she asked, hope starting to bloom across her face, taking over the tension that had probably been sitting there since the moment she was captured.

“Right,” Piper said, nodding her head. “But we also want to do a couple more things, so we have a couple of really important questions for you.” Dove straightened up, expression settling into something somber and serious, the type of look that didn’t belong on a face that young. “Do you know where the other prisoners are and can you lead us to them? And do you know where the unstable crystals are stored in this factory?”

Dove gave it a thought, teeth pressing down on her lower lip as she contemplated. Finally, she nodded. “I’ll be able to lead you to the other prisoners,” she confirmed. “I had only managed to escape from the prison for a short time before you found me, and most of that time was spent hiding rather than moving. So we’re actually very close. As for the unstable crystals, you’ll want to talk to Jay.” At their looks of confusion, Dove clarified, “One of the prisoners here. He was often forced to work with them - that way if something happened, the Cyclonians would lose a prisoner and not one of their own.”

“We’re going to need you to lead us to those prison cells, Dove,” Aerrow said, accepting the toolbox containing Radarr back from Junko. “And we’re going to be on a bit of a time crunch, so we’ll need you to be quick about it.”

Dove gave a nod of understanding and reached down to pick up the ball resting at her feet. “Of course. Follow me,” she beckoned.

As it turned out, they really were close to the prisoner holding cells. Still, just to be safe, as before, Radarr kept popping out whenever they turned down a new hallway, leaving a mark on the floor to show them the way out once they finished their mission.

After going down a few hallways, which Dove informed them led deeper into the west wing of the factory, remodelled from its original use once the Cyclonians took the factory over, they finally came to a stop in front of a large, metal door with a viewing window. A quick peek through it revealed a hallway lined on both sides by cells, each side six cells deep. It wasn’t a large holding block, really, but it probably worked well enough with keeping the more troublesome prisoners under closer watch until they were either broken in spirit or dealt with in a more permanent manner.

Aerrow withdrew from the door, taking a few steps back to rejoin her friends and Dove. She worried at her lip, eyebrows furrowing in thought. “Do you think we could manage to get in there with our stolen IDs? Or would we need more specialized clearance?”

Junko took his own turn in stepping closer to the door, examining its lock. “I honestly think we could just smash it and it wouldn’t trigger any alarms,” he said over his shoulder. “It looks like it isn’t connected to anything.” He backed up, shaking his head in disbelief. “That’s so insecure it honestly makes me wonder how the hell the Cyclonians have managed to expand over so much of the Atmos.”

“You positive about it not triggering any alarms?” Aerrow asked him. The Wallop nodded in agreement. “If you could do the honours then, please and thank you.” She gestured to the lock.

Junko wasted no time, punching the lock with such force that he dented the electronic panel inwards and left it sparking. As he had predicted, no siren began to wail - either that or it was a silent one, but Aerrow couldn’t afford to be concerned about that at the moment, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind as ‘possible, but not likely’.

The door popped open, allowing for Junko to insert his fingers between the two panels that met in the middle and pry it open all the way with little resistance. He turned back to the rest of the group and gave a little bow. “After you.”

“Thanks, Junko,” Aerrow told him, stepping past him into the prisoner hallway and hearing the others echo her words as they too entered behind her. She put down her toolbox and popped the lid open. Radarr shot out, taking the opportunity to stretch.

Dove had marched over to the first cell on the right as soon as she was in, and she was now talking to whoever was on the other side of the bars quickly but quietly, gesturing over to where Aerrow and the group were gathered, still out of sight from anyone in the cells.

Aerrow and Piper made their way over to her, coming to halt beside the young girl. The cell was occupied by two prisoners, one short but stocky and the other just taller than his companion but noticeably slimmer.

He gazed at the both of them with a critical eye. “You’re the Storm Hawks, then?” he questioned, tone weary but not dismissive as so many were when it came to their age. 

Aerrow offered him a polite nod, happy that she wouldn’t need to worry about patronizing dillweeds. “That would be us, yes,” she confirmed. “We’re here to get you guys out.” So saying, she stepped back and motioned to Junko.

In short order, all the locks of the cells - all the same model as the one that had been placed on the door leading into the hallway - were broken and the cell doors opened, allowing the prisoners to escape from their confined spaces.

There was a quick round of hugs and words of relief from the released prisoners, all of them checking on each other and Dove to make sure they were alright - or as alright as they could be, given they had been held captive for who knows how long.

All of them - a group of nine, ten including Dove - showed varying signs of malnutrition and had dark bags under their eyes, but they still seemed to be in good spirits. Aerrow was relieved; she might not know if they would be haunted by their time spent here, but for the moment, at least, they looked like they still had hope for the future.

Aerrow and the other Storm Hawks stayed on the side, allowing them their moment. Once they were done, Dove motioned for her to join the group again. She nudged her elbow into the side of the skinny man from before and introduced him as “Jay”.

“He’s the one who was working with the unstable crystals,” she explained.

Piper perked up, scooting closer to their small group. “Do you think you could get us to that room?” she asked hopefully.

Jay gave her a nod and shrug. “It’s actually not that far from here,” he admitted, hand coming up to ruffle his hair. “They kept the route there short so there was a lesser chance of me escaping while they escorted me to and from the room.”

“Works in our favour, then,” Aerrow commented, arms folding across her chest. Jay gave her a confused look, so Aerrow clarified, “We’re going to blow up the factory.”

Dove and Jay’s eyes went wide. “You’re going to what?” Jay choked out.

“Blow up the factory,” Finn piped up, smirking. He made a boom gesture with his hands, emphasising what they were planning to do.

“But that’s - that’s -” he sputtered out, gesturing helplessly.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Piper chimed in, completely missing the point the man was trying to make. “We’re going to set a timer on the explosive. We’re planning to be outside before we detonate it. And this way,” she added on, “the Cyclonians won’t be able to use the factory. Ideally, we would get this place back under Gale’s control, but we just don’t have the time or the manpower to do that. So we’re going to blow the place instead. That should even out the playing field between the rebels and Cyclonians.”

Slowly, Jay’s expression transitioned from incredulousness to thoughtfulness. “I suppose I see your point,” he said slowly, hand reaching up to scratch at his beard. He gave a nod of understanding. “Sure,” he said, “I can take you there. But who all is coming with us?”

Aerrow said simply, “Everyone.”

“Pardon?”

“Everyone,” she repeated. “If we leave anyone here, Talons could come by and see them and raise an alarm. Then we’d be separated, with no way of knowing what happened to the other group. Plus, two groups means smaller numbers for each, making it harder for us to be able to fight our way out. With everyone together, we’d be more conspicuous, of course, but we would have a better chance at not being overwhelmed.” Aerrow shrugged. “And once we’ve planted the explosive, our priority is moving fast. It’ll be a sprint to the doors to get out and get to our skimmers and fly away.”

Here, Jay seemed to look like he was already regretting putting trust into people he clearly thought had common sense, only to immediately be proven wrong.

He waved his hand through the air. “Fine. Whatever. Let’s just tell the others and go before I think about this too much.”

Piper gave him a sunny grin, then set about rounding everyone up to tell them the plan. They took it about as well as Jay had, but in the end they didn’t fight the Storm Hawks about it, so Aerrow was pleased.

Newly-freed prisoners in tow and with Jay in the lead, the odd group snuck out of the prison block and made their way to where the unstable crystals were stored. They did run into some patrolling Talons, but Junko was quick to introduce them to his fist, knocking them out cold before they had a chance to draw attention to the group wandering around where they definitely didn’t belong. And when they got to the storage room, Junko was kind enough to break the lock on that door, too.

Aerrow ushered everyone into the storage room, then took up a position with Finn to guard the door while Piper went to identify which stack of unstable crystals - each stack of one type of crystal stored carefully and well away from any other type of crystal stack - would produce the most destruction once the bomb they were going to plant went off. 

Everyone else huddled out of their way while Piper riffled through boxes, not wanting to touch anything and set off any reactions.

Piper muttered to herself as she searched, flitting between stacks as she narrowed down what ones she wanted to do. She had two crystals in hand - a light pink in the right and a light purple in the left - when she finally turned to Junko.

“I need you to move these purple ones over to the stack of pink ones,” she told him, gesturing to show the Wallop the stacks for the respective crystals. Junko gave her a salute and set about doing so, following her instructions to a T; when he was done, he stepped back and cocked his head at Piper in question.

“That’s good,” she told him with a smile. “You can set up the explosive - just make sure that it’s touching both of those crates. We need each type of crystal to be involved in the reaction after the bomb goes off.”

Junko gave her a thumbs up and then ducked down, pulling out the unarmed bomb that was tucked away in the bag hanging off his belt. With careful, steady hands, he set about attaching the bomb to the crates of crystals, making sure to have it placed equally between the crates like Piper had said. In a matter of a handful of tense moments, he had everything set up. 

Aerrow took a quick peek into the hallway, making sure the coast was still clear, before turning back to Junko. “Ready to go?” she confirmed.

“You know it,” he said. He reached back into his bag to pull out the remote detonator and give it a little wave. “Once we’re clear, we’ll just need to press this button and boom - bye bye factory.”

“Wait!” Piper suddenly called; she had found a small, red crystal in her hand. “Found this while Junko was setting up the bomb,” she explained, hurrying over to Dove’s side and crouching by her feet. “Don’t move,” warned Piper.

Dove froze when the crystal began to glow softly. With a quick flist of Piper’s wrist, the crystal smoothly cut through the lock of the chain around Dove’s ankle, allowing it to drop to the ground with a rattle.

Dove beamed, stepping away from it.

“Nice thinking, Piper,” Finn praised, offering her a pair of finger-guns from his spot by the door.

Piper flushed slightly. “I just figured, since we’re going to be running and all.” She offered a modest shrug.

“It was a good move, well done,” Aerrow chimed in. Then she turned her attention onto the others huddled in the room. “Get ready to run,” she told them. “Piper, Finn, and Radarr are going to go in front, then it’ll be all of you guys, and then it’ll be me and Junko. 

“Now, I can’t stress this enough: we can’t stop if one of us gets captured. Will we try our best to keep everyone with us? Yes, absolutely. And if people gang up on you, we will do everything we can to help you out so that you stay within a reasonable distance of the main group. But if someone is grabbed and we can’t get to you without putting everyone else and this mission in danger?” Aerrow felt her shoulders slump even as her fist clenched by her side. “Then I’m sorry, but we have to prioritise everyone else above one person.”

The group traded looks amongst themselves, faces hardening with determination. It was Jay who stepped up; he clapped her shoulder with one of his hands, needing to reach up to do so.

“We understand,” he told her. “Do what you need to to make sure that this place goes up in flames.”

Aerrow was taken aback for a second; she had expected more push back on this decision - because Saya knew she didn’t like this type of mentality herself, and she did everything in her power to avoid it as much as possible - before chiding herself.

Jay was a member of the Rebel Ducks, as were most of the people in the group of prisoners. And everyone else who wasn’t was still involved in some way with the resistance. Of course they could understand that the many would always outweigh the few.

“I’m sorry,” she told him.

But he just shook his head. “It’s not your fault,” he assured. “We knew the risks we took when we signed up. Just do me a favour?” Aerrow nodded without hesitation. These people were willing to put their lives into her and her teammates’ hands, trusting that they would protect them. It would do her no hardship to listen to Jay’s request, even if it turned out that she wouldn’t be able to actually do what he requested. “Protect Dove above anyone else, please. And yourselves.” Dove made an indignant noise, but Jay simply shook his head at her, unwilling to concede this point. “The rest of us have had longer to live, but you guys are still young, even if you’ve decided to shoulder this burden. So keep yourselves safe.”

Her eyes searched his, but she could see nothing but earnestness in Jay’s gaze. “Okay,” she promised, voice going tight.

He smiled at her a final time before stepping back. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Aerrow turned back to her friends, motioning for Piper, Finn, and Radarr to get into position. Then everyone else shuffled in behind them, forming a line at the door and getting ready to run.

Before they left, Aerrow made sure to mention one more thing. “And make sure to grab a few weapons when we pass by those Talons in the hallways. They won’t be needing them, but we will.”

That said, they set into motion. Right out of the gate, they were sprinting, only pausing long enough to grab a couple of staves from the unconscious Talons littering the hallways leading between the prison block and the crystal room. Other than that, though, they stayed in motion, refusing to slow down as they made their escape.

Unlike their way in, Talon soldiers now knew that something was wrong with their group - what with the escaped prisoners and fleeing and all. Therefore, they met a lot more resistance in leaving the factory than they had going in. What seemed like every hallway they turned down had a guard that needed to be pushed aside and trampled over or punched or otherwise knocked out. Sure, some of them were smart enough to simply move out of their way, but they were outnumbered by those willing to try to stop Aerrow and her group from making a break for it - and Aerrow was completely unrepentant in saying that those guys were the ones who ended up getting mowed down without a second thought.

Aerrow’s heart was racing and her breath was becoming more laboured, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins kept her mind sharp as they raced down hallways, using the marks on the floor as their navigation tool.

“A couple more turns!” Piper’s voice floated back to her, and Aerrow couldn’t stop the savage grin of delight from breaking across her face.

Just a couple more turns, she repeated in her mind, heart picking up the pace at the thought of freedom. Just a couple more turns, then we need to find our skimmers and we’re home free.

She welcomed the feel of humid air on her face when they finally made it outside, Junko having made a quick trip to the front of the group to pry the factory doors open and usher everyone through, joining her again once the last person had made it out of the factory. The air was still dense with the steam that they had created earlier that night, but to Aerrow nothing felt better.

Even the large group of patrol guards that set immediately upon them couldn’t dampen her spirits. She felt almost lighter than air as their group tousled with the Cyclonians, needing to duck under wild swings while lashing out with her own punches.

She let out a whoop of joy, unable to contain it, and Jay gave her a weird look. “Why are you enjoying this?” he demanded, swinging his staff into the leg of a guard trying to get a jump on him. There was a crack and the guard let out a scream of pain, dropping to the floor as his hands fluttered over his knee.

“Oh come on,” she heckled back. “Every mission needs some action to be fun, don’t you know?”

“I could do with a little less fun!”

The line of procession they had started out with had gone up in flames once they made it outside, but that was to be expected with the free-for-all brawl that had started up the moment they were out of the factory.

Still, though, they couldn’t linger, so Aerrow let out a piercing whistle to gain everyone’s attention and then shouted, “We need to keep going!”

The rebels obeyed, ending their fights with whichever opponents they were touseling with and then breaking away, following again after Piper, who had taken up the lead once more as she navigated them to where the Storm Hawks had left their skimmers.

Any guards who hadn’t already been taken out of the fight came after them, of course, but once again it became a game of “knock them down but keep moving forward”.

By now, people’s breathing was coming more as pants, but that didn’t matter because they had just turned the corner of a smokestack and there, sitting in a shaded corner and almost impossible to see, the Storm Hawks’ skimmers sat waiting for them, no more than 300 meters away.

The distance between her and her ride was closing quickly when she felt it.

Aerrow, when looking back on this moment, couldn’t say what made him do it. She didn’t know if he had somehow felt it coming, or if he had been looking over his shoulder and saw it happen. All she knew was that one moment she was running towards her Ultra, and the next something shoved at her shoulder, hard, and she was stumbling a few steps to her right at the unexpected force before she righted herself and kept going, turning to look over her shoulder to see what had happened.

What she saw was this: Jay, who had been running at her side in place of Junko after the mayhem from before, was on the ground, sent sprawling from an energy blast that came from the rear. Jay, who had taken a blow meant for her. Jay, who couldn’t get up fast enough before his assailant was on him, closing the distance between the two very, very quickly.

Jay, who had only just gotten onto his hands and knees when a sword pierced through his chest, spraying the ground underneath him with blood when it was yanked back out.

Jay, who was dead before his body hit the ground again.

There was ringing in her ears, but she honestly couldn’t tell if it was because at that very instant Junko decided to set off the bomb - setting the factory ablaze and releasing a loud shockwave of sound - or because of the shock that doused over her.

Even as her body continued to move on autopilot, Aerrow’s eyes stayed locked onto Jay for three heartbeats - ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump - watching helplessly as his blood began to pool underneath him. Then they rose, trailing over long legs and a strong chest covered by the Cyclonian emblem before settling on ruby red surrounded by inky black. 

Suddenly, the air around her wasn’t so freeing; instead the water in the air clung to her, making the pumping of her arms and legs feel slow, like she was moving through a liquid instead of a gas.

She wanted to collapse like Jay had, let her legs fold below her so that she could sink to the ground. She wanted to scream and rage against the unfairness of losing him so close to the end. She wanted to go back and end the man who had just murdered Jay.

But a quiet voice in the back of her mind pushed her on. It chided her, telling her to think again about taking any of those actions.

“Do me a favour, yeah? Take care of yourselves first,” it whispered.

Aerrow grit her teeth, but kept running. All the while, her eyes stayed locked on his.

Aerrow could never be sure why Jay’s killer didn’t also take a shot at her as she closed the distance between her and her ride, but if she had to guess she would say it was because of the pandemonium that had broken out when the bomb went off. Shouts filled the air, accompanying the smoke of the fire, as people ran around, trying to to flee from the factory as it burned and collapsed on itself or find water to put out the fire.

For now, though, Dark Ace was the one to break their staring contest first, sheathing his sword. He turned his back to the fleeing prisoners, opting to move closer to the mayhem of Talons scurrying about instead.

Aerrow’s eyes lingered on him until she was forced to look away to mount her Ultra, Radarr slinging himself onto his spot on the sidecar. The rest of the rebels, now nine instead of ten, were divided between the four rides, with Junko getting the odd man out because his skimmer was built to hold the most weight since he carried heavy artillery into battles instead of just a person with a weapon. 

It didn’t escape anyone’s attention that Jay was no longer in the group, and Aerrow could see the exact moment that the rebels registered why he wasn’t with them.

Dove let out a heartbreaking scream of denial and tried to lunge back off Piper’s Heliscooter. The other woman riding with them was the only reason she couldn’t, and Piper, knowing that they couldn’t go back for Jay’s body, took off before the younger girl could try again, the others following close behind.

Plenty of people saw them leave from the factory that night, but nobody could come after them, all their attention focused on the bigger issue of trying to do damage control. Aerrow, her friends, and the rebels they carried with them made a clean break into the night. 

In terms of completing their objectives, the Storm Hawks had succeeded. They had set the prisoners free that they could, and removed the crystal factory from the Cyclonians’ control.

It should have been a victory, but they all knew that it wasn’t.

Dove launched herself at her grandpa as soon as her feet were on solid ground. Wren had run out to meet them, and now he opened his arms and caught the taller girl like she was still half his weight.

Immediately, the dark-haired girl broke down into sobs. Honestly, Aerrow wanted to join her, but unfortunately she still had one more piece of business to take care of before she could process all that had happened.

She stayed outside as all the other Storm Hawks and former prisoners made their way past the grandfather and granddaughter pair into Wren’s little home, making sure to keep a respectful distance and not hovering too close.

Finally, the younger girl pulled away from her family member. Wren brushed away the tears that still clung to her cheeks and gave her a sad smile, then motioned for her to go in.

They both stayed silent while the little waif of a girl slipped inside. Then Wren motioned for Aerrow to follow him; she did, and in return he led her over to the tree that had held her, Piper, and Finn captive in a net earlier that day. Rather than stop at the tree, though, the old man instead took a seat at the edge of the terra, lowering himself down slowly only a couple of feet from where solid ground met empty air. 

He patted the ground beside him; Aerrow sat.

In the distance, the factory still burned bright enough to be seen from the outer edges of Terra Gale. The fire had spread from the main compound to the stacks but not out of the factory plot into the countryside, bright enough against the night sky that it turned its backdrop red. Aerrow gave a mental whistle of appreciation; she had no idea what the crystals Piper had picked out were, but they seemed to be doing their job of being hard to put out. She doubted that there would be much of anything of use left by the time the fire either died out by itself or was put out.

They watched the sight together for some time, long enough for a chill to set into Aerrow’s bones, in silence.

Wren was the one to break it, letting out a melancholy puff of air. “Dove told me that Jay didn’t make it,” he said.

Aerrow cast a quick look in his direction. His eyes were sad, but…resigned, maybe?

“You didn’t think he would?” she asked in return.

The old man simply shook his head. “I didn’t think he would.” There was another moment of silence before he continued, “Like me, Jay lost his most important people in the fight to keep Gale free. Unlike me, though, he lost them all. He didn’t have a Dove to come home to, just an empty house where his loved ones used to live.”

He paused for a moment, seemingly to gather his thoughts. “There were the other Rebel Ducks, of course, but we could all tell that it wasn’t going to be enough to keep him here for much longer. With how fast they were getting picked off, Jay could only just be getting more friendly with one before they died and a new member came to fill out the ranks again. It was breaking him, and nothing any of us did was able to help keep him together.”

Aerrow’s heart squeezed in her chest. “Was that supposed to make me feel better?” she asked, morose. “To make his sacrifice less of a weight pressing down on me?” Because it had been - ever since Jay had died in her place, her chest felt tight and her throat felt closed. Her eyes had been watering on and off since they left the factory, but it still wasn’t time for her to grieve. She would save that for when she and the rest of the Storm Hawks made it back onto the Condor, where she could surround herself with her family so that they could comfort each other.

Wren gave a rueful chuckle. “I suppose not,” he said wryly. “But then again, you can’t blame an old man for hoping, can you?” Bones probably stiff from the cold, him standing up looked like it took considerably more effort than his sitting down. He gave a stretch, ignoring the popping that originated from his back. “Just know that I’m glad his death at least served a purpose. There were many times when I feared that there wouldn’t even be that - just a body found laying around from his own self-inflicted wounds.”

His piece said, Wren shuffled his way back up the hill to his house.

Aerrow didn’t join him. Instead she leaned back on her hands, legs sprawled in front of her, and continued to watch the factory burn.

Jay had given his life for hers to make sure she could escape from that place. The least she could do was make sure that the fire consumed everything that the Cyclonians had been using to oppress the people of Terra Gale.

She knew that she would need to go in soon enough - it really was starting to get cold out, and she couldn’t stay out here for forever - but she needed this moment of quiet and solitude for herself first.

“Thank you,” she whispered, the gentle breeze flowing around her carrying her words away into the night.

The flames seemed to burn even brighter.

Chapter Text

Little to no lighting? Check. Water dripping from long spikes to plop onto the ground? Of course. The smell of damp earth and decomposition? Present and accounted for. 

Aerrow didn't mind caves on principle, but it’d been a couple of hours since she, Piper, and Radarr had set off to explore this one and she had since discovered that caves were much more enjoyable when all she had to do was quickly fly through them. 

It wasn’t even that the cave was hard to navigate - most of the tunnels only had one opening to wander down, though those openings often led to paths that twisted around themselves; it was just that the cave was deep and it took a while for their group to follow a tunnel to its end before making their way back to the central cavern to pick a different direction to start walking. So she was stuck here for the foreseeable future, eyes assaulted by the meagre remains of prey long dead everywhere she looked. 

Worst of all, the trio couldn’t even explore at a brisk place. One foot stepped out of line meant a larger chance of stepping on something that shouldn’t be stepped on, like a bone or a branch, and making a sound that would draw attention to them. Now, a few of those sounds by themselves wouldn’t be a big deal. But lots of those sounds happening frequently in succession? They may as well have just taped “eat me!” to their backs and been done with it.

Therefore: moving slowly because none of them wanted to be eaten by a giant bird, thanks.

“Are you sure it’s here?” Aerrow asked. Piper deadpanned at her, gesturing to the bones that littered to the ground. Aerrow flushed. “Phoenix’s aren’t the only large animals that live in caves!” she hissed defensively.

Piper stopped suddenly, hand reaching out to slap at Aerrow’s arm urgently.

Aerrow ducked away with a scowl. “Um, ow ,” she muttered, but the other girl ignored her complaint. Piper pointed to the sharp bend in the tunnel before them, where a soft glow was illuminating the walls around the bend in warm tones.

Radarr peeked out from behind Aerrow’s leg with an inquisitive chirp.

Hopes lifting at the thought of finally being able to collect their prize and then leave the cave, the three of them started shuffling over to the bend in the passageway.

Radarr went first, dropping down to all fours so that he could be as close to the ground as possible. He crept forward slowly and stuck his head around the corner for a quick look at what lay ahead of them. He took a few seconds to observe, then pulled his head back around and made his way back to the two girls. Once close enough, he launched himself at Aerrow’s shoulder, the redhead able to compensate for the added weight easily.

“So?” Aerrow breathed, hardly daring to raise her voice from a near whisper. Radarr gave her a thumbs up in response. She let out a gusty sigh, bending over and putting her hands on her knees like she had just sprinted a marathon instead of walking no more than a few feet really slowly.

Piper wasn’t doing much better. The bluenette had her hands resting on her chest like she could physically reach into it to steady what was no doubt a fast-beating heart. “This makes life so much easier,” Piper said, relief saturating her tone. “I didn’t want to fight a phoenix.”

Confidence sky-rocketing now that she knew for sure she wasn’t going to be eaten by a giant chicken, Aerrow let out a bark of laughter. “What, you didn’t want to fight it? Come on, it’s just a bird,” she teased.

Piper glared at her, unamused. “A very big bird that’s usually on fire ,” she stressed, rolling her eyes. She stuck her tongue out at Aerrow and ignored the way it sent the other girl into a fit of cackles, marching forward to round the bend.

Aerrow hurried to keep pace with her even as she wiped away imaginary tears, no longer caring that her footsteps sent the debris on the cave floor scattering, clinking against other debris and off the rocky terrain.

A medium sized cavern opened up before them after they had rounded the bend. Placed along the far wall was their prize. 

The phoenix’s nest… wasn’t that amazing to look at, honestly. It looked like any other bird’s nest, just bigger - like, a lot bigger. Its main body was formed by what looked to be tree branches instead of twigs, but the padding seemed to be regular moss. 

The only noteworthy thing about it was what sat directly in its middle, the only thing placed in it at all. Where most crystals were only one solid colour, the Phoenix Crystal displayed a gradient of them, starting yellow at the top, making its way to orange in the middle, and then finally transitioning to a bold red at the bottom, where a claw ornamentation wrapped around it.

Aerrow let out an impressed whistle. It really was a very beautiful crystal - and powerful as well, from what Piper had told her. Nothing says incineration like getting blasted by a shot of phoenix fire.

They moved closer as a unit, taking quick steps. The sooner they grabbed the crystal and left the better - less chance of encountering the phoenix that way.

Aerrow reached out to grab it; Piper struck quickly, slapping her hand away before it even got close to the glowing crystal. Aerrow pulled it back and clutched it close to her chest, shooting the girl a wounded look.

“What?” she said. “I was just going to grab it!”

“Yes, but anyone who handles this thing needs to be careful ,” the other girl stressed. She squatted down to get a better look at their objective, sticking out her finger like she really wanted to poke it but would get in trouble if she did.

“I was going to be careful!” Aerrow protested. One didn’t grow up around a crystal maniac like Piper and not pick up some crystal handling faux pas. Exhibit A: never handle any crystal without care because that was a good way to injure yourself if it was accidentally activated.

Piper simply shook her head. “No, not like that. Rumour has it that the phoenix is linked to its crystal; we don’t know if moving its crystal will alert the phoenix or not. Just give me a moment to study this thing and then we’ll try taking it out of the nest.”

Radarr chirped an affirmative, hopping down from Aerrow’s shoulder to crawl on the floor around the nest, investigating everything he could get his hands on.

Aerrow waited impatiently as Piper ran through her tests, occasionally shifting her weight from foot to foot, not quite able to stay still. Her eyes wandered from the other girl from time to time, but the cave was a lot less interesting to watch. All the cave walls offered Aerrow to look at was a drab grey colour. Piper, at least, was changing what she was doing fairly consistently, even if Aerrow didn’t understand why she needed to bring a blue crystal up to the Phoenix Crystal, then a green one, or why it needed to be done in that specific order.

From far off in the cave, there was the sound of bones shifting, as if something had disturbed them. All three of them froze; Radarr’s ears turned in the direction the sound came from. He waited a moment, head cocking, before turning back to the girls and shaking his head.

Aerrow let out a slow breath, heart settling back into a slower rhythm. “Almost done?” she asked Piper.

Piper nodded, fishing out a metal pick from her bag, which was sitting on the floor in front of her, the previous testing crystals and other instruments packed away in it. “Just give me another couple of minutes,” she said, ducking back down to focus on the Phoenix Crystal.

Radar had made his way back to Aerrow’s shoulder by the time the bluenette finally straightened out of her crouch. She closed her bag and picked it up, slinging the strap over one shoulder so that the bag itself rested against the side of her hip.

Aerrow gave her a questioning look and motioned to the glowing crystal in the nest.

“It’s safe to pick up, at least,” Piper told her, hands coming up to grip at her bag’s strap. “And we can probably move it from this cave.”

“You sure?”

“Positive,” she affirmed.

Aerrow needed no other opinion. If Piper said that the crystal was safe to touch and move, then Aerrow trusted that the crystal was safe to touch and move. With complete confidence in her safety, the redhead reached forwards to grab the crystal in the nest. 

For being connected to such a legendary bird, the Phoenix Crystal was surprisingly light. Aerrow wouldn’t have known it to be special just from its weight alone. However, unlike other crystals, which were all cool to the touch, this one was - very aptly, Aerrow decided - warm. Holding it reminded Aerrow of holding her hands out to the fire at just the right distance to keep them warm without ever getting too hot.

Aerrow lifted it higher and twisted it this way and that, watching in fascination as the colours of the crystal seemed to shift, mimicking a dancing fire.

“Cool,” she breathed.

“Very,” a dark voice purred in response. Aerrow jumped at the unexpected reply. Moving so fast that Aerrow barely caught sight of it, a claw mechanism attached to a wire whipped into her view, latching onto the Phoenix Crystal securely and then wrenching it out of her fingers.

Aerrow and Piper spun around, Radarr’s fingers tightening at the red-head’s shoulders briefly at the quick change in direction. There, claw and wire retracting into his blade in one hand and Phoenix Crystal in the other, was Dark Ace. The glow of the stone reflected off one side of his face and left the other on in deep shadow; and yet, despite this shadow, the red of Dark Ace’s eyes managed to pierce through the darkness and into Aerrow. She felt a shiver of apprehension go down her spine as her hand automatically reached back to pull out a dagger. Her lips pulled back in a snarl, fire licking up to a night’s sky dancing in her mind.

“My, someone doesn’t look happy to see me,” Dark Ace drawled, twirling the crystal in his hand tauntingly.

Aerrow felt Piper shift her weight to a more balanced stance beside her; Radarr hopped down from her shoulder, moving himself closer, too. A growl escaped his bared teeth, low but constant.

“Any suggestions?” Aerrow muttered to the other girl.

Piper let out a huff of irritation. “On how to get that crystal from him without summoning a phoenix to breathe down our necks? Working on it.”

Luck seemed to be on their side though, since Dark Ace didn’t immediately make a break for it with the crystal. “You know,” he mused, “I recognized you back on Terra Gale." A pale face, eyes wide with shocked resignation, blood pooling - no, Aerrow, don't think about it. Repress, repress, repress. "You’re the Sky Knight I spared on Terra Atmosia.” Or tried to humiliate into quitting, Aerrow snarked in her own mind. So benevolent of you. Then, in a darker corner of her mind, But wasn't it? After all, better alive and humiliated then - hands on the ground, not even aware of how close the enemy was, never knowing - “It surprised me - I was generous enough to let you keep your life, and yet there you were, causing a prison break from a Cyclonian crystal factory.” He clucked his tongue and shook his head in faux disapproval. “Terribly ungrateful, you know.” Aerrow felt her anger spike and had to wrestle it back down.

He paused for a moment, eyes skimming down and then up her form before his eyes locked onto her weapon. “But that wasn’t the only place I’ve seen you, is it?” His eyes narrowed in calculation. “That was you working with Starling to steal the Aurora Stone back, wasn’t it? Your hair may have been different then, but I recognize that weapon.”

Aerrow, despite herself, felt the corner of her lips twitch upwards. “It may have been,” she conceded with a shrug.

Dark Ace’s expression soured. “I wouldn’t look so smug. The fact that you left Cyclonia alive was due to a minor miracle only.”

Mouth opening to blurt out the first thing that came to mind, Aerrow said, “So what I’m hearing is that I’m blessed.” Then, figuring she might as well run with it, now that it was out there in the open due to her lack of filter, she brought one hand up to rest over her heart. “Thank you - I think so too, but no one else ever believes me when I tell them that. It’ll be nice to tell all the nay-sayers that someone else agrees with me.”

His eyes narrowed farther at her cheek. “Just very - very - lucky,” he ground out.

Aerrow gave a fake-humble shrug. “Hey, luck is always a part of battle. Wasn’t my fault that Saya took one look at you and went ‘nope’.”

That earned her an unamused noise from Piper, who probably thought she was poking the sleeping bear unnecessarily. Aerrow would beg to differ, though - it was always necessary to poke the sleeping bear (at least, when that bear was a human; if it just so happened to be a giant avian that could and did set people on fire, then all bets were off. But hey - semantics.)

Ooh, look! She could visibly see Dark Ace’s jaw twitching as he struggled to regain his previously blank expression. Props to him, he was able to do so, even if it did take a moment before his face smoothed out again.

“Be that as it may,” he said, “that luck has come to an end. Thank you for finding this crystal for me” - he raised the multi-coloured gem in a mock salute - “but I believe this is where we’ll part ways. I will be taking this back to Cyclonia; you will stay exactly where you are - unless you want to personally find out how hot phoenix fire burns.” His eyes swerved away from Aerrow for the first time since he started talking, pinning themselves on Radarr, who had been creeping closer to the man while Aerrow kept him distracted. 

Radarr froze.

Damn. Aerrow let out a low tsk of annoyance. There went their best chance of getting the Phoenix Crystal away from the Cyclonian. Unless Piper could come up with something, they would have to let the man leave at least the cave before trying to get the crystal back. Or, well, that wasn’t technically true. They could, theoretically, just launch a full-out attack on Dark Ace, but, as he had pointed out, that left them with the risk of him equipping the Phoenix Crystal to his sword - and the Storm Hawks didn’t know how big a blast radius a shot of phoenix fire had. As Aerrow was fairly certain none of them wanted to die via burning alive, they should probably avoid attacking him.

Presently, the man took a cautious step back. When neither she nor her friends moved to bar him from leaving or moved from their spots in general, he took another, then another, and then kept going, each step occurring quicker than the last. Still, his eyes darted between the three of them, making sure to not linger on one of them long enough for another to make a quick move.

Finally, when he came upon the bend in the tunnel leading back out to the main cavern and its entrance, he gave them a little nod. “A pleasure,” he drawled, tipping an imaginary hat at them.

Just like that, he turned around and made for a clean getaway.

Or he would have, at least, if a giant, flaming bird hadn’t chosen to break through the cave ceiling above the bird’s nest right as he was about to start running. But the bird did decide to do that at that very moment, so the Cyclonian’s exit plan was foiled.

All four of the non-feathered occupants in the room were forced to take a dive as large chunks of rock rained down from the ceiling and an ear-piercing cry echoed through the cave. Aerrow hit the floor hard, hands coming up over her head as she curled into the foetal position to try to make herself as small as possible.

As soon as the thunderous crashing of falling rocks stopped, Aerrow was back on her feet, this time facing the giant bird that had perched itself at the edge of its nest. Distantly she noted Piper and Radarr joining her so that they were all clumped together, but the majority of her focus was trained upon the beady eyes locked onto her figure.

The bird was, of course and as expected, bigger than any other feathered animal Aerrow had ever seen. It stood about twice as tall as Aerrow herself and was covered in golden feathers that seemed to glow. Its beak and talons were intimidatingly sharp - Aerrow had no doubts that they would have no problem tearing flesh from bone should anyone be unlucky enough to be caught in one of their grasps. Surprisingly, though, there was no fire. Just puffed-up feathers and black, beady eyes that finally shifted off the Sky Knight onto the others in the cave, tracing over each of them carefully until they finally locked onto the Dark Ace farther away, behind the Storm Hawks.

Aerrow heard him shift his weight and the following clink of bone being moved aside to hit another. She guessed that he had tried to move closer to the bend, but there was no way she was turning her head to check to see if that assumption was right. All she needed to know was that the phoenix in front of her didn’t like whatever it was Dark Ace did one bit.

One moment it was clicking its beak. The next, it was launching itself at him through the air, moving surprisingly quickly for something that large, setting itself aflame as it did so. Its self-made fire only covered certain parts of its body, from wingtip to wingtip and flowing down its long tail, but that didn’t stop Aerrow, turning to keep it in sight as it moved, from being blasted with an immense amount of heat. 

The cave, naturally, was a cool place. The sun could only reach so far in whenever it pierced the entrance to the cave. Where she was, around the bend, didn’t have any naturally occurring sunlight at all. Before the bird had opened up the ceiling through brute force, she could only see thanks to the light the Phoenix Crystal and the small, softly-glowing illumination stone attached to her wrist had been letting off. Therefore, she had been on the cool side for most of the cave exploring expedition. Now, though, she was boiling. The air had gone from damp but manageable to muggy and intolerable in a matter of seconds.

Dark Ace let out a colourful curse, throwing himself down again when the phoenix dove at him, talons first. He scrambled back upright as it wheeled around for another attack, eyes firmly fixed on him.

No, Aerrow realised. Not him, but its crystal. Its first priority seems to be getting it back, not punishing whoever disturbed it. So we should be fine, since we don’t currently have it , she reasoned. 

With this idea floating in her head, she tapped Piper and Radarr to get their attention and told them her conclusion.

Piper nodded after Aerrow finished talking. “It makes sense,” she said, watching Dark Ace play a very deadly game of dodge with the firebird. “It’s probably linked to the crystal, so as long as anyone has it in their possession, that bird is going to find them.” She nibbled on her lip before nodding to the bend in the tunnel away from the nest, which was now clear of any obstruction, Dark Ace having moved away from it for more room to manoeuvre. “Unless Dark Ace manages to kill that bird - which, good luck to him, he’s more than welcome to try - that crystal isn’t worth it. I say we head back to our skimmers, leave the cave, and then watch the entrance from a little farther out. That way we can see if he actually manages to leave the cave and whether or not he has the crystal with him if he does.”

Aerrow agreed with the plan and so did Radarr, so they set about making their way out of the cave at a brisk run - with the phoenix’s attention firmly on its crystal in the Cyclonian’s possession, they could make as much noise as they wanted to as they vacated without worrying about drawing its ire.

They made it to the cave’s entrance, mounted their skimmers, and flew farther out (though close enough still that they could catch Dark Ace if he managed to escape from the cave with the Phoenix Crystal) for a better recon position, all without incident. Then it was just a matter of waiting. 

They hovered in the fading sun, a cool breeze serving to cool the sweat that had beaded along Aerrow’s brow from the intense heat wafting off the phoenix. Her hands were tight on her handles, eyes focused for any movement coming out of the cave.

“So, we making any bets on if he manages to come out of the cave alive or not?” she asked, trying to lighten the tense silence around them. Radarr let out a little chuff of amusement, but Piper simply scoffed.

“You kidding?” she muttered to the red-head. “Cyclonians are like cockroaches - that one especially. We’d probably have more luck finding the Forbidden City than not having Dark Ace make it out of that cave alive.”

As if to prove her point, a dark blur came racing out of the cave and took off into the sky. Piper flapped her hand at it as if to say “behold”, eyebrow arched up high on her forehead. Aerrow took a moment to exchange a fond eyeroll with Radarr and then they were off, chasing after the man fleeing from the cave at a respectable pace. Aerrow could tell, however, that he wasn’t pushing his skimmer to fly as fast as it could go.

That, coupled with the lack of a giant, flaming bird following after him, was either a very good or very bad thing.

It took a little bit of following, but the two girls and… whatever Radarr was managed to catch up to the Cyclonian, Piper pulling up along his left while Aerrow covered his right. They all knew that wouldn’t stop Dark Ace from going somewhere if he actually desired, but the man allowed it to happen - and Aerrow wasn’t delusional enough to claim that it was anything but his acceptance that allowed for the Storm Hawks to get this close to him. One didn’t acquire the reputation he had by not being able to hear two skimmer motors approaching one’s position in the air from the rear. Skimmers were great for a lot of things, but stealth often wasn’t one of them when needing to catch up to someone who had a lead.

Still, he humoured them. “Very noble of you, leaving me there to my possible death,” he stated dryly, eyes not leaving the horizon of clear blue before him.

Aerrow gave a small shrug, completely unconcerned with his nonchalant remark. It would have been poetic justice if he had been burnt to a crisp, and she could admit she was slightly sad it hadn't happened. Piper and Radarr gave similar reactions. Aerrow didn’t know if Dark Ace thought that making a comment on their supposed lack of honour was actually going to make them feel guilty, but he had picked the wrong Storm Hawks to try that emotional manipulation tactic on. Junko was the one on their crew that had the strongest moral compass; the rest of them were pragmatic enough to know that sometimes, when an opportunity for something or someone to kill an enemy came along, the best course of action was to let it play out instead of trying to rescue that enemy. That way you’d be down an enemy and wouldn’t have even needed to get rid of them yourself.

Dark Ace seemed to understand their silence. He let out a low chuckle. (And it too, Aerrow noticed with a hint of annoyance, was, like the rest of him, stupidly attractive. He really was just too much. Everyone knew that the only times enemies were supposed to be hot were in fiction stories, not real life. And yet here this man was, with his striking eyes and sharp jawline, looking more like a model than Talon scum. Aerrow gave him a mental middle finger for the slight.)

He seemed to find their silence amusing, albeit in a dark humour kind of way. “I underestimated you. I would have thought you to be the type of deluded optimist who would sooner cut off their own hand than leave anyone behind if they found themselves in trouble. I see that I was wrong - I’ll have to keep that in mind.”

Piper didn’t deign to give that a comment. She focused on something else instead. “So I see you aren’t being chased by the phoenix,” she commented in a faux casual tone.

Dark Ace’s expression clouded over for a beat before returning to a more neutral visage. “Yes. I wasn’t fond of how close that blasted bird was getting to me, so I decided to let it keep its precious crystal. It’s no skin off my back; a powerful crystal is nice to have, of course, but it’s not like it’s necessary to beat any of you squadrons.”

Immediately, Aerrow bristled at his tone. Radarr’s fur puffed up, too, and he snarled, baring his sharp canines at the Cyclonian.

Dark Ace shot them a look of superiority. “Of course, you’re more than welcome to go check that the phoenix has its crystal for yourselves,” he commented. “I’ll make sure to collect your remains in an ash box for your friends.”

Piper gave Aerrow a questioning glance. Without the other girl even uttering a word, Aerrow knew what she was thinking: could they actually trust Dark Ace’s words? Or was he lying to make a clean getaway with a powerful crystal that most squadrons simply didn’t have the firepower to match?

Aerrow contemplated the Talon leader flying beside her. His clothes, dark as they were, still had patches that were visibly charred from the phoenix’s flames. On his (infuriatingly handsome) face were small cuts and smudges of dirt from diving to the ground to get away from the bird. He wasn’t scowling, his eyebrows weren’t furrowed, his eyes were clear of frustration. If he was lying about having the Phoenix Crystal, then he was doing a phenomenal job.

“I don’t think he has it,” she finally concluded, turning her attention back to her friend. “He’s not one to hide his motives if he’s completed the job. While he’s trying to finish his tasks, yeah, sure, he probably would misdirect us so that there wouldn’t be any more interruptions to his plans. But after the fact?” She gave a shake of her head. “It’s not his style. If he completes his job, then he wants everyone to know that they didn’t manage to stop him, even if he won’t specify what it was that he accomplished. He doesn’t have it - I’m almost completely positive on that. 

“We’re just wasting time by following him. At some point he’ll get bored and ditch us, and then we’ll just have farther to fly back.”

She gave Dark Ace one last lingering glance. His eyes remained locked ahead of him, posture straight and the cock of his head defiant.

Aerrow gestured to the other girl, motioning that they should peel off. Piper nodded to show her agreement and together they slowed their rides and steered to the left, turning their skimmers around so that they could start flying back from the way they came. Dark Ace was flying to the west, but the Condor had been parked on the east side of the island that housed the phoenix’s nest.

They took turns looking behind them to make sure they weren’t being followed, but the coast was clear. Dark Ace had clearly kept flying to his next destination, allowing the three Storm Hawks to return to their home without leading an enemy right to their doorstep.

The three of them trooped up to the common room, where all their teammates were lounging as they waited. Finn was upside down on the couch, feet kicked over the back of the couch seat and head hanging by the ground as he perused a magazine. Stork was also reading, curled up on the end of the couch opposite of Finn, his choice of reading material a thick tome of some kind - one that Aerrow would bet was either a grim story or a collection of gruesome poems. (The Merb did read a variety of topics, yes, but, just like anyone, he had his favoured genres.) Junko was fiddling with a few pieces of wire, twisting them into different shapes and occasionally jotting down a note in the journal beside him.

He was also the only one to look up when they came in, offering them a bright smile. “Hey guys!” he greeted. “How’d it go?”

“Yeah, did you find your flaming chicken?” Finn echoed, eyes not leaving his magazine.

Aerrow paused by where his feet stuck over the back of the couch, contemplating for a moment before she carried on, plopping herself down in the middle of the couch and then swinging around, so that she could join her friend on being upside down. Nosy, she craned her neck to see what he was looking at - a magazine about the newest guitars on the market.

Aerrow made a face. Finn was loud enough with his current guitar; she really didn’t want him to buy one that could hook up to the Condor’s comm system so that he could blast his riffing over the entirety of their home.

Piper took off her bag and placed it onto the giant, round table with a loud thunk . “Phoenix, Finn,” Piper corrected, rolling her eyes when all the blond did was wave his hand dismissively. “And yes, actually, we did.”

That prompted both Finn and Stork to raise their eyes from their reading material, turning curious eyes onto the bluenette. The blond scrutinised Piper carefully. “But you didn’t get the crystal,” he stated. “If you had, you would be smiling. So something happened to stop you from bringing it back - but it also wasn’t something bad, or you’d have a stress line between your eyebrows and you’d be pacing as you tried to come up with a plan.”

This was very true.

Piper puffed up for a moment before deflating. She knew as well as anyone else that she wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if she tried to deny it. Finn was the best on the team at clocking personal behaviours and habits. If he said someone acted a certain way when stressed, then they acted a certain way when stressed.

“Fine. You’re right,” Piper admitted.

Finn gave a nod of his head, expression pleased. “As I always am and always will be.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Piper returned, voice dry. She smiled innocently when he gave her a (fake) dark look. “But yes, we did find the Phoenix Crystal. Unfortunately, it seems to be linked to the phoenix itself, though, so we couldn’t keep the crystal unless we wanted to kill the bird. It would have been nice to have to give us some more firepower, but not having it also won’t set us back in our fight against Cyclonia.”

“And speaking of Cyclonia,” Aerrow piped in, “you guys wouldn’t believe who we ran into today.” She waited a beat to see if any of the others not present for her, Piper, and Radarr’s adventure wanted to chime in, but they remained stubbornly silent. She rolled her eyes at their lack of participation in her dramatics. “Dark Ace,” she stated flatly. A small smirk quirked her lips up when both Junko and Finn let out squeaks of surprise, dropping the items they had been holding. 

Stork’s eyes widened and he leapt from the seat, hurrying over to examine all three of the others with a keen eye. “You don’t look injured.” He leaned even closer to Radarr, hands grasping at his shoulders as he made intense eye contact with him. “Does that mean he was injured instead?” His eyes lit up and his voice dropped lower, into a creepy whisper. “Did the bird eat him?”

Radarr leaned away from him slightly, letting out a noise to signal his discomfort at being so intensely stared down.

“No, he wasn’t eaten,” Aerrow intervened, trying to save her little buddy from his lack of personal space. Stork dropped his hold on Radarr, drooping. “But the bird did try to maul him.” That perked him right back up - he went back to his seat, chuckling darkly under his breath.

She loved the Merb dearly, but by Saya’s grace was he weird.

“So what’s next then?” Junko asked. He bent to scoop his wires back up. 

Piper shifted her weight to her other leg, finger coming up to tap at her lip while she thought. “Well, there weren’t any new missions that came in while we were gone, was there?” Three head shakes. “So I would say that our next destination should be Terra Neon. There have been a lot of concerning rumours floating around about people going missing from there over the past couple of weeks.”

“And this is concerning… why?” Finn asked. He shoved at Aerrow’s shoulder a bit. She scooted to the side, giving him enough room to right himself on the couch, then followed his lead. Quarters could be tight when living on the Condor, and she had been in much weirder positions when everyone all smelled like they didn’t know what a shower was, but that didn’t mean she wanted her head hanging down by the sharpshooter’s feet when it didn’t need to be.

“I have to side with Finn on this one,” Junko said. “Isn’t Terra Neon known for people going missing?” He paused for a moment, looking cautious. “It is Terra Neon, right? I’m not getting it confused with another terra?”

Stork nodded his head in agreement. “You’ve got the right terra. Large desert, lots of booze, active nightlife and crime.” He shrugged. “Really easy to drop someone off in the middle of the desert with no supplies. Or, even more commonly” - he put his hands up to his face in a classic “shocked” expression but kept his voice at a monotone - “oh no, he must have had too much to drink and gotten too close to the edge of the terra.” His voice returned to normal. “Neon gets really crowded. Lots of people don’t think twice about losing a friend in the swarm for a minute and only really start to worry when their friend doesn’t come back or meet up with them a few minutes later; and by that time it’s already too late.”

“Exactly.” Piper blew at her bangs to get them out of her face. “Which is why I said normally I wouldn’t be concerned. But these rumours only started up a couple of weeks ago, and they all basically say the same thing. Things get a little more iffy when you have lots of people saying different things that contradict one another, but when they start agreeing on things you know there has to be a kernel of truth in there somewhere.”

Aerrow leaned forward on the couch, her elbows coming to rest on her legs as her hands folded together to give a perch to rest her chin on. “So what do these rumours say?”

“Well, number one is that these people are all going missing at Neon’s theatre. Everybody goes in, but not everyone comes out. Number two is that people describe their friends or family as acting weird after the show: glazed eyes, stumbling, not engaging in the conversation directed at them. Number three is that this has apparently been going on for a while, longer than when the rumours started flying. According to most, this started up a few months ago - and this leads me into number four: these disappearances have been picking up speed. It started with just one person disappearing every one or two weeks. Now it’s up to someone every other night.”

Aerrow tracked the other girl as she started her aforementioned habit of pacing when thinking about something bad, the others doing the same from their own spots. Left, right, left, right. The bluenette paused for a moment, then headed to the bridge’s wall on her left, aiming for the cabinets that lined it.

They were sturdy things, those cabinets, the metal that made them more banged up than not, each cabinet drawer hosting some form of divet. And yet they still opened and closed like they were brand new rather than covered in rust spots. The Storm Hawks had six of them lined up in a row along the wall, the three on the left designated for holding important paperwork and the three on the right for more miscellaneous things, like important newspaper clippings or case details that Piper had put together. 

Piper pulled open a drawer on the right, rummaged around it a bit, closed it and opened the drawer below it. There was the sound of papers shuffling, and then she let out a little sound of triumph. The drawer was closed quickly enough that it let out a muted bang of metal hitting more metal.

When she came back over to them, she had a portfolio in hand. She handed it to Aerrow, who opened it up to take a look, the other four abandoning their previous spots to crowd around her so that they could see too.

It was rather distressingly thin, for something that Piper had looked into. She was firmly of the mentality that there was no such thing as too much information wherever she was doing research, so to see only a dozen or so photos, with a small paragraph of information under each picture, was very unusual.

Aerrow flipped through the pictures slowly, taking the time to read a few sentences of each paragraph as she did. Her brows furrowed farther down at each one. None of the missing people were all of one species, and the only thing they seemed to have in common was leading an active life. One Wallop was an avid rock climber, one human hiked every weekend they could… Other than that, they had nothing in common besides being in the prime of their lives.

Finn gave Piper a questioning look from over Aerrow’s shoulder. “No guesses as to what’s happening to these people?” Another good observation: not once in the file did Piper speculate on what might be causing these disappearances. Normally, she would toss out theories on what might be happening when she had everything together, but there wasn’t even a scribbled note on the margin of a page.

Piper just gave a resigned shrug and a shake of her head.

“Huh.” Aerrow closed the file and handed it back. She got to her feet, taking the moment to stretch out her arms and legs. “I guess we’re headed to Terra Neon, then?” she asked rhetorically.

“Actually, no.” That came from Stork, who had moved back to his previous spot on the couch and picked up his book, carefully placing a bookmark in it to mark his spot before he closed it. “If you want to make it to Terra Neon, we’ll need to stop somewhere first to resupply. Our cupboards are almost empty, remember?”

Aerrow gave a small wince. She hadn’t remembered, actually, until Stork had brought it up. Even before coming to this terra in search of the Phoenix Crystal, they had been running low on food. It should have been fine, but then finding the cave of the phoenix had taken longer than expected, which left them eating into their emergency rations.

“A supply stop and then Terra Neon,” she corrected, hand coming up to rub at her neck. Stork gave a nod, walking over to the Condor’s controls to get the ship started. “Where to?” This she directed to Piper.

The girl gained a thoughtful look, thinking it over. “Probably Terra Rex. They have a good trading port, it’s on the way to Terra Neon, and the Rex Guardians are set up there. We can see about setting up a meeting with them to ask them if they might know anything about what might be causing these missing people.”

Aerrow turned to where the Merb was checking his navigation instruments. “You hear that, Stork? We’re setting course to Terra Rex!”

He gave a thumbs up.

She could barely see the path in front of her. It was almost non-existent, with plant overgrowth covering most of the trail on either side.

She pushed a branch from one tree out of her way, then ducked under another. Her destination was hazy in her mind, but she knew, almost instinctively, that she still wasn’t there yet.

She forged on.

Time seemed distorted, in this place of nature. Seconds would stretch into minutes or hours, then shorten again to their proper length.

Bird calls echoed through the brush unevenly, changing their pitch mid sound just to cut out before they even finished. Yet others still rang out sweetly, as if beckoning her to leave her path and explore the darkened forest around her.

She was tempted, but a voice in her head urged her on still, insisting that she had no time for breaks. In fact, she found herself picking up speed, the strange calmness that had pervaded her so thoroughly before falling away as that same voice urged to to move faster, faster, faster - you’re not fast enough you need to move faSTER - 

Lush green rushed past her, the siren call of the birds drowned out by her harsh pants. How long had she been running, again? Surely not that long, and yet she needed to take a break, she couldn’t catch her breath, her lungs and legs were burning from the exertion of sprinting for so long -

A wall of foliage loomed before her. Not able to slow down enough to avoid it for how quickly it came upon her, she brought her hands up over her face and braced for the inevitable impact even as she tried to break.

She felt nothing. 

Slowly, she lowered her hands. Around her, stone walls loomed. Mounds of treasure filled the room she was in, covering every inch of the floor except for a perfect circle in the very middle of the room. In its centre stood a statue, the light of the room almost casting it in a spotlight.

A wild turn showed no trace of the foliage she had just crashed through. Just stone on all four sides.

A voice called her name, beckoning. But there was no one else in the room, just her. Unless -

The statue remained as it had before, completely inanimate. Still, she approached cautiously. Her ears strained, trying to hear any whisper in the room. A beat of silence. Another. Another after that.

Then, her name again. The same voice as before, while she was running along that path, the same one that had called her name the first time. It was almost fond. 

“I’ve been waiting -”

“Aerrow?”

She shot upright, green eyes snapping open. Her breathing was harsh, almost like it had been while…

While what?

“Aerrow?” A knock accompanied the call of her name. Finn. “You up? We’re almost at Terra Rex.”

Aerrow shook her head, trying to clear the cobwebs that seemed determined to stay tangled in her thoughts. A glance at her alarm clock showed it to be well past ten in the morning. She dragged her hand down her face, pausing to rub at her eyes. Strange, that she would feel so groggy even though she had slept in so late.

Another knock.

“I’m up!” she called, swinging her covers off and her legs out of bed. “Just give me a few minutes. I’ll be ready soon, I promise.”

“Kaaaay.” His footsteps faded away, heading toward the kitchen.

By the time she stumbled into the bathroom to splash water on her face, the fog that had been surrounding her thoughts since waking up had vanished, though the effect of her restless night - (but why was it restless?) - was more than evident from the smudges underneath her eyes. Her thumb came up to trace one of them as she pursed her lips. Maybe she would try to get to sleep earlier tonight, to make up for the night before.

Too lazy to do anything too complicated with her hair after her morning routine was complete, Aerrow settled for pulling her red strands into a simple ponytail as she made her way from her room to where all her friends sat in the common room.

They all offered her their own morning greetings, but Piper and Radarr were the only ones to follow her as she made her way to the kitchen to scrounge up a quick breakfast. They only really had canned food left, as well as some nuts and granola bars and packets that just needed to be rehydrated, which wasn’t the most appealing of meals, but hey, food was food.

She went to go rifling through a cupboard, only to have Piper steer her into a seat by the kitchen table instead. Radarr took over getting her breakfast, leaping onto the counter so that he could reach the top cupboards where the non-perishables were stored. He grabbed a packet of something, then shuffled over to their dish cabinet to grab a bowl. After that was a spoon, followed by him filling their kettle and setting it to boil.

Aerrow’s eyes tracked his progress until her line of sight was disrupted by a blue-clad arm placing a glass of water in front of her.

Piper gave a small smile. “Only water to drink,” she said. “You know that everything else is gone.” Concerned gold eyes peered at her. “You okay? You slept in late today - and it doesn’t look like it was the good kind of rest.”

Radarr sat a bowl of oatmeal in front of Aerrow, chiming in with his own concerned chirp. 

Aerrow gave him a quick pat on the head. “Thanks, buddy. But I’m fine, promise. It was just” - a flash of green, light bouncing off coins - “a bad dream…” 

Was it a bad dream? Did I dream at all last night? Why can’t I remember it? she wondered.

Better yet, why do I feel like I should?

A hand waved in front of her face. “Aerrow?”

She shook her head, offering Piper a sheepish smile. “I’ll be fine. Just give me a chance to get some food in me and I’ll be right as rain. You’ll see.”

Piper and Radarr exchanged doubtful looks. 

Aerrow pretended she didn’t see them. 

Honia, Terra Rex’s capital city, was more sprawling than Aerrow thought it would be. Atmosia (the city, not the terra itself) had paved roads and houses built closely together, to accommodate its dense population and small terra size. Honia had dirt roads connecting its streets together, with seemingly no set order to where houses were built. Some of them stood side by side with their neighbours; a few streets over, there was just one house built in the middle of an open field.

The only thing that any of the buildings had in common was their centre point: a landing strip leading to a large arena sitting at the edge of the terra. Circular in shape, stands bracketed the entire area that was currently bustling with a variety of carrier ships, ranging from freight haulers to small family movers.

Finn eyed the hustle of activity below the Condor dubiously. “Will we even have a place to land?” he asked.

Aerrow took a look herself. There was plenty of open space, sure, but all sorts of different people were moving to and fro over it. With seemingly no clear designated walking lanes that they should have been sticking to, other vessels trying to land would have a troublesome time doing so without squashing a few people.

Stork smiled darkly at them from his position behind the wheel. “Oh, there’s plenty of space. The people will just have to move if they don’t want to be crushed.”

Aerrow’s eyes widened and she whipped around to face the Merb. “Stork, wait!”

Too late. He had already started to lower the Condor down into an area not currently occupied by an airship, blasting the Condor’s horn as he did.

Well, it certainly got people scrambling out of the way to clear the area.

The Condor touched down gently, Stork looking proud of himself. 

Piper had her face buried in her hands. Aerrow wasn’t sure if she should join her or not.

“You couldn’t have done it a little bit more politely?” she questioned.

Stork shrugged, completely unrepentant. “We were sitting up there for over five minutes and nobody was making room for us to land. So I forced them to.” A blink. “You’re welcome.”

Piper let out a faint groan of despair.

Once they were all on the road to the Rex Guardians’ headquarters (Stork catching a ride with Junko), Piper was off, talking a mile a minute about the squadron that guarded Terra Rex. 

“The very first Sky Knight was a Rex Guardian,” she babbled, eyes glittering with admiration. “And even today they still live by the Code, their ancient set of rules and rituals. No one has changed a word of it in, like, five hundred years!”

“Uptight,” Stork coughed into his hand, earning a round of chuckles from everyone but the crystal enthusiast.

“We could learn a lot from them,” the bluenette continued on, acting as if she hadn’t heard the interruption. “They have class, discipline, well-maintained gear -”

“A huge-ass castle as their headquarters,” Finn deadpanned.

Before they had left the docking area, Aerrow had found an information kiosk and asked the person manning it for directions on where they would need to go. They had helpfully pointed out which road the Storm Hawks would need to take, then told Aerrow all she would need to do was just keep going straight through any intersections, and that she would know the Rex Guardians’ base of operation on sight.

Bemused, Aerrow had thanked them and then went back to the Condor, not quite getting what they meant at the time. Still, everyone had mounted up and pulled out, following the road out of the arena and farther out into the country on a short trip, going straight as told until coming upon a small forest that the road disappeared into. That caused a small pause, Aerrow thinking that she must have misunderstood the kiosk attendant, before Junko pointed out a line of smoke rising above the treetops.

So they had continued on, venturing farther into the group of trees until they caught sight of the Guardians’ base. And Finn was right - looming in the distance was an honest to Saya castle, decked out with Terra Rex’s symbol, the swan.

As they got closer still, Aerrow could see that the castle was surrounded by an iron gate, with about six guards stationed at the gate’s opening.

It was here that her group finally stopped, the guards approaching them as soon as they were no longer in motion.

“State you business,” one ordered.

“We’re here to see the Rex Guardians,” Aerrow answered cautiously, eyes darting between the six unknown figures.

“Name?” the same guard asked brusquely.

“Aerrow, of the Storm Hawks.” She focused her gaze on him, since he seemed to be the one in charge of the group.

He eyed her critically. “Verification?” he drawled.

Aerrow fought not to bristle, though she was sure her jaw still twitched. Terse, she gave him her code, a set of numbers that served as identification and were unique to her. Each member of a squadron had one, and it was up to the Council to keep an updated list of which ones were in use.

The soldier made his way to one of the guard stations that sat next to the gate, most likely to contact the Council headquarters to make sure her code was legitimate. It took a few moments before he returned, looking down his nose at them even as he waved the other guards to let them through.

Aerrow made sure to give him a sarcastic smile as she passed.

Once on the other side of the gate, a new set of guards - just two of them, this time - led them up the rest of the way to the castle. There, the guard peeled off to a smaller, less used dirt road that led around to the back of the castle. A small, square building - also made of stone and bearing a swan - sat just a minute’s walk from the main building. Its doors opened to reveal a small garage, big enough to fit all four of their skimmers and still give them room to manoeuvre onto and around them, but not for much else.

“The main visitor garage is currently occupied to capacity,” one of the guards explained as Aerrow and her friends parked their rides and dismounted. She waved them out of the garage, closing the door and locking it behind them, then started to walk to the castle, the Storm Hawks trailing behind her and her partner. “We have an important visitor here, and she brought a large number of staff for the visit.”

“Yeah right,” Finn muttered under his breath. “We’d have to be blind to miss how they looked at us when we got here. They clearly don’t want the ‘street filth’ bringing their muck into their fancy skimmer bay.”

Aerrow personally wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, but Piper seemed adamant that it wasn’t. “Don’t be sour, Finn,” she chided. “The Code demands that all guests be shown the best hospitality possible, no matter their ranking, until they prove that they aren’t worth the respect. Depending on who’s visiting and why, it’s entirely possible that a large number of staff needed to be here too - and they’ll have to get around somehow, so they all probably brought a ride.”

They were forced to drop the conversation as they came back around the castle to its main entrance and let inside. Aerrow wanted to say that the place, old as it probably was, was a dive, with the architecture falling apart and nothing having been replaced in who knows how many years, but that wasn’t the case. It was easy to tell that the building was old, but someone obviously took very good care of it. 

The rug on the floor and the tapestries hanging on the wall were vibrant in colour, not faded in the slightest, and the furniture was made from solid wood that shined with a fresh coat of wood polish. The entryway carpet was a little dirty, yes, but everything else that Aerrow could see seemed to be spotless, free of mud or fingerprints or dust.

Yet another person greeted them at the door, the Storm Hawks passing from the guards’ care to hers. Unlike the guards, however, she didn’t wear any armour. Instead, she was dressed in the very stereotypical maid’s colours, though wearing a shirt and slacks instead of a dress.

She offered them a bow, long brunette hair sweeping over her shoulder with the action. “Good afternoon, my name is Elise. I will be your personal attendant for your stay here. Should you have any questions while waiting, please direct them to me. I will do my best to answer or, should I not know enough on the topic, direct you to an appropriate source for more information.”

Aerrow blinked at her, stupefied. Then, remembering her manners, she jolted. “Oh! Uh, thank you, Elise. It’s, uh, much appreciated.”

Elise’s lips quirked slightly at the corners before smoothing back out. She straightened. “Please, follow me.” She started to walk, prompting the others to follow along behind her like baby ducks followed after their mother.

The castle was big, to put it mildly, and after only a few turns Aerrow could already tell that she would have no hope of navigating the place on her own. Elise, however, had no such problems, footsteps sure as she led them down hallways that Aerrow would have all thought were identical, were it not for different paintings hanging on the wall to tell them apart.

Finally, Elise stopped at a door that was propped ajar. She pushed it open farther, ushering the Storm Hawks into the room. 

A small study greeted them. Across from the door sat a small desk, a simple chair with good padding placed behind it. It basked in the rays of the sun let in from the stained glass window that took up the majority of the far wall, depicting what Aerrow assumed to be Terra Rex back in its founding days.

A fireplace crackled away on their right, which Aerrow was bemused to see. The weather on the way here was rather nice, she had thought, but maybe it was cold for those who lived on Terra Rex. Or maybe they need it to keep the castle warm? Aerrow thought. It wasn’t like she knew what was needed to keep a place like this comfortable to live in. The only places she ever lived in were the fort on Terra Neverlandis and the Condor, both of which were very different than a castle.

The other thing that Aerrow noticed was that all the furniture in the room that had any bit of cloth material, from the chair behind the desk to the small couch in front of the fireplace, as well as the carpet under their feet, was either a shade of dark, muted green or gold.

Together, she and her friends wandered farther into the room. Piper acquainted herself with the small bookcase that occupied one corner of the room, fingers tracing along their spines, while Junko, Stork, Finn, and Radarr went to stare out the window, the blond boy remarking on the fact that the Rex Guardians apparently had a training field behind their castle and that “that’s not fair, we don’t get anything cool like that!”

Aerrow was more interested in some of the papers spread out over the desk. Nosy, she went to pick one up, only catching the words “truce” on one of them before Elise shuffled over, sweeping them into a pile that she then placed in a desk drawer that she had to unlock first before opening. It clicked as it locked shut again.

Their attendant gave her a pointed smile. Aerrow raised her hands in surrender, showing that she hadn’t meant any harm, and took a step away from the desk to show the brunette that she would be good and not go snooping.

“Now, as you may have been told when being escorted to the door, but we currently have very important guests visiting us at the moment. As such, we ask that you stay within this room until Sky Knight Harrier is able to talk to you.” She checked the clock hanging over the fireplace. “That should be within the hour. Until then, may I interest you in any food or beverages?”

Junko’s stomach rumbling gave her her answer. A small smile graced her face, this one genuine as compared to the targeted one Aerrow had received.

“That would be lovely, Elise, thank you,” Aerrow said.

“Of course, Sky Knight Aerrow. I’ll be right back with some sandwiches and refreshments, then.” Elise gave another bow and swept out the door, making sure to close it behind her.

Aerrow was left blinking rapidly. She was fairly certain that that was one of the few times somebody had called her by her full title and had actually meant it. Her own squad, of course, stuck to calling her by her first name. They had been family long before she had gained her Sky Knight title, and the day one of them called her by title was the day she would know that the Storm Hawks had been infiltrated by someone with a cloaking crystal. Technically, Sky Knights were supposed to address other Sky Knights by their full titles, but many of them didn’t, instead opting for first or last names, a habit that Aerrow herself was guilty of. And finally, the one that she heard most often - ‘Sky Knight’, but said in a jeering tone rather than a polite one, used most often by Talons (though there were others, people that she had sworn to protect sneering at her when she offered to help) to taunt her because of her age.

Hearing it used by someone who actually meant it, it was nice.

But it didn’t detract from a thought that was starting to nag at her mind.

“Does anyone else feel like we were put in time-out?” Finn questioned, roaming around the room to look at the decorative pieces hanging on the wall.

“I thought they were very nice,” Junko said, brows furrowing. “I mean, they are getting us food.”

“Yes, but only after confining us in a room and telling us that we can’t leave it,” Stork countered. He moved closer to Aerrow, whispering, “I bet that they’re only giving us food so that we’ll lower our guards. Then BAM!” Aerrow startled away from him, rubbing at her ear. “Next thing we know we’ll be locked in their cells, never to be seen again.”

Piper waved dismissively at him. “They’re not going to lock us in cells, Stork. We’re guests here. I keep telling you, they’re honour bound -”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Finn cut it. “I don’t think they’re going to keep us here forever, but come on! Aerrow, you have to admit that something is going on here! Why else would they want us to wait in here for at least an hour - maybe more if things are delayed - instead of letting us wander until it got closer to our meeting time with Harrier?” He turned beseeching eyes to her; the others did as well, their gazes demanding that she share her thoughts on the subject.

To stall them while she thought, Aerrow took a slow lap around the room, looking out onto the training field when she passed by the window. Everyone’s else followed her movement, but they thankfully didn’t prod her, letting her think before she said anything.

Outside, a pair of guards made their way around the perimeter of the gate that circled the castle.

“Something is going on,” she conceded, eyes tracking the pair along their path. “Why else would it matter that we don’t wander around? I think that, whoever their important guest is, they either don’t want that guest seeing us, or us seeing that guest. Did you guys notice that we didn’t pass anybody else in the halls?” Aerrow didn’t recall even seeing another staff member. Just the guards at the gate, on both sides, and then Elise. “If that guest brought so many people with them, then why didn’t we see any of them? Apparently, there were enough of them that all the spots in the main parking garage were full, and I can’t imagine it’s a small space.”

She turned away from the window, trailed her gaze over all of them standing in that room. “Something is going on here,” she repeated, “but for now we’ll just have to play along. We’ll be polite, but keep your eyes and ears peeled for anything. Maybe the Guardians just don’t want to broadcast who their special guest is, which, hey, fair enough, maybe they’re just keeping their VIP safe, but something tells me it’s not that simple.”

“And that’s all we’re going to do?” Finn protested.

Aerrow nodded decisively. “For now, we’re giving the Rex Guardians the benefit of the doubt as fellow protectors of the Free Atmos. If we notice anything that seems to be putting anyone in danger, then we’ll have another talk about it.”

The blond boy slumped, grumbling to himself.

A few minutes after their impromptu team meeting, Elsie returned to the study, this time with a utility cart. She placed a large platter of sandwiches on the small table that sat close to the couch, along with a stack of small plates, glasses, and two pitchers of juice, each a different flavour. Delivery made, she excused herself again from the room, telling them that she would give them a while to eat before returning to ask them a couple of questions about their stay.

All the food had been polished off by the time she came back. A knock on the door signalled her arrival, though she let herself in instead of waiting for one of the others to get the door for her. She gave a nod to the empty plates that the Storm Hawks had stacked back onto the cart. “I assume that there were no troubles with the food?”

Piper gave a quick shake of her head. “No, it was all very good. Thank you again, Elise, for getting it for us. It was very kind of you.”

“It was no problem, Navigator Piper.” Oh? It seemed she had done her research while they ate. Aerrow had been the only one to identify herself at the gate, so the only reason for Elise to know any of the others’ names was if she had gone asking the Council about them. “Now, I just have a few questions to ask you about your stay here, if you would be so kind as to indulge me. Sky Knight Harrier prefers for someone to give him a short summary of what his guests would like to discuss before he comes to meet them.”

Aerrow traded a quick look with Piper. Was that the truth, or was this brief questioning only happening because of the other visitors? The other girl simply shrugged. 

Finn, on the other hand, looked triumphant. ‘Told you,’ he mouthed to the bluenette. She gave him a haughty sniff in reply.

Aerrow decided to ignore them as they dissolved into a play fight. “Sure, ask away.” If the questions proved to be too invasive, she would just have to be vague with her answers to the best of her ability. It wouldn't do to give everything away, but it would be just as suspicious to not give any details at all.

Elise grabbed a pen from the desk and then made her way to where the Storm Hawks were sitting on the couch. She shuffled her the papers of the clipboard that she had procured at some point while she was gone from the room, then held her pen at the ready.

“This will be quick, I promise,” she said to Aerrow, perhaps noticing the red-head’s apprehensive look at all the papers she had just gone through. “I only have a few questions to ask you, and they’re all simple things to answer. The other papers are for me to deliver to various other staff members once I’ve left this room. Now, first question: your reason for visiting the Terra Rex and requesting to meet with the Rex Guardians?”

“Primarily because we needed to restock out kitchen supplies,” Aerrow stated. “An excursion close to here had taken longer than expected.” The truth, though she wasn’t going to state what excursion they were on to begin with unless directly asked. “That, and our next mission was in this direction. Terra Rex was the closest terra in the same direction, so we figured we would stop here for food and ask the Guardians about their opinion on our case, then get going.” Although now she was wondering if the Storm Hawks shouldn’t stick around for at least the next couple of days, given the secrecy going on around them.

The pen made quick work of jotting this all down on Elise’s clipboard. A strand of brown hair was pushed back over her shoulder. “And how long do you expect to stay on Terra Rex?”

Aerrow hesitated a moment, then said, “No more than a couple days, three at the most.” That would just have to be enough time if it turned out the Storm Hawks did need to investigate.

Another note went down. “Are you going to need someplace to stay while you’re here?”

That one threw Aerrow off, she would admit. “Uh, no? We were just gonna stay on the Condor…”

A humming sound was her answer. The pen was capped, then used to tap against the clipboard a few times while Elise stared at what she had written down. “Thank you. That will be all.” After making her way closer to the door, she turned back to the room one more time. “Are you in need of anything else?” Heads were shaken in the negative. “In that case, Sky Knight Harrier should be here in the next twenty minutes or so. If the plan should change at all in that time, I will let you know. Have a good day.” One more bow and then she was gone.

Piper waited only long enough to be sure she was out of hearing range before turning to the rest of the group. “Okay, something is probably going on,” she admitted. “Wanting to know why we’re here, yeah, that makes sense. But asking about where we’re staying and for how long?” She crossed her arms, clearly unimpressed at the unsubtle prying.

Stork glanced wearily at the door. “Told you - cells.”

Aerrow ignored him. Were the Rex Guardians up to something? Yes, definitely. But she doubted they would resort to locking a squadron in their cells (if the castle even had any) unless they absolutely had to. And as of this moment in time, they hadn’t done anything to warrant suspicion.

“Think we’ll be left alone?” she asked the bluenette.

Piper huffed out a breath. “Probably not; they didn’t even let us walk to the front door without people there to keep an eye on us. I don’t know if they’d go so far as to ask us to stay here for our stay, but we can definitely expect a tail if we go back to the Condor.”

Aerrow frowned, not liking either option.

“Can we do something now ?” Finn inquired, picking at his nails where he leaned his back against the couch, feet sprawled out in front of him underneath the table.

“Still no,” Aerrow refuted. “Our best bet is to act like we don’t know that something is up and try to investigate later, when we aren’t confined to a single room. In the meantime, someone come up with a topic to distract us so that nobody walks in on us plotting. The more absurd the topic, the more dessert you’ll get this week.”

The conversation took a turn for the less serious, then, as the group of friends went from talking about secret plots to what kind of groceries they should get, with Finn and Piper arguing about which fruit was most important to acquire, Stork complaining that they didn’t have enough cabbage, Radarr miming what ingredients he wanted for his favourite dishes and so on, to which animal could kill you faster.

(I’m telling you, it’s lava eels!” Aerrow cried in exasperation. “You want to die quick? Just take a trip down there and you’ll find one, no matter where you are in Atmos when you start your descent. Bam! Done! It won’t take more than twenty minutes at most as long as you don’t dodge when one comes to eat you!”

Radarr, perched on her shoulder, gave a vehement nod of approval, casting Stork a magnificent case of stink eye.

“And I’m telling you - if you want a near-instantaneous death, you want to find a scarlet maw razor fang arachnoid! No one lives once they’ve been bitten by one. Meanwhile, a lava eel doesn't guarantee your death on the first bite. What if it snaps at you and only gets an arm or leg first, huh? What then? Then you’re in agony while you wait for it to bite you in a way that gives you the sweet release of death. The spider gives you a bite and you’re dead in a few seconds at most - you just have to wait for the body to numb, then the brain to melt.”

“And how long will it take you to find one of those again? Weeks? Months?”

“Well now you’re just being stubborn. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to find one, what matters is how quickly the animal itself can kill you!”

“I’m sorry, should the time taken to actually find one of these animals not count? What if you’re on a time crunch, huh? What then? Are you just gonna wait around until this spider miraculously falls from the sky? No, you’re not!”)

Like that, the time passed quickly, and they only quieted down when a knock came to their door. It swung open to reveal a tall man in its entryway. His blond hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, and he was muscular, with broad shoulders and large thighs. Golden armour, placed along his arms, shoulders, chest, thighs, and knees, shined from its recent polishing, without even a scratch on it. An air of authority settled over his shoulders like a comfortable cloak. This was Harrier, Aerrow presumed, Sky Knight of the Rex Guardians.

Bright blue eyes scanned over them all briefly before settling on her. For a moment, shock overcame his features, followed by a heavy grief, and then hope bloomed in its place. His gaze darted all around her, from her vivid hair to her bright eyes, then down to the colours of her clothing and the insignia she wore proudly on her armour.

Aerrow shifted in place, uncomfortable with the scrutiny, as the large man stumbled his way to the seat behind the desk, not so much sitting down into it but rather falling, his legs giving way so that his weight crashed down on the chair.

“When the Council sent word that the Storm Hawks squadron had been reformed, I admit that I felt anger,” he opened with. His voice carried a posh accent to it. “When I learned that their oldest member was no older than twenty, with the rest of the team consisting of teenagers, I grew livid. I thought the Council ludicrous for letting teenagers run around playing squadron at a time like this, and unspeakably crass for letting them use that squadron name in particular.”

He trailed off for a moment, instead opening a drawer on the left side of his desk - this one not locked, Aerrow noticed, because he didn’t need to reach for a key before sliding it open. The sounds of some things being moved around floated over to her ears as he looked through his drawer. Finally, he straightened up, fingers around a small piece of paper - a photograph, she realised. A fond look came to his face as he traced it over with the thumb from his other hand.

He beckoned at her. Weary, she shuffled over, hesitating to take the photo from him. It seemed precious to him, and she didn’t want to damage it with careless handling. Still, though, she reached for the photo when he prompted her again, making her way back to her teammates so that they could look at it with her.

The photo depicted a group of ten people of various species, their smiling visages forever caught in sepia as they posed with easy camaraderie. There were arms thrown over neighbours’ shoulders, and eyes squinted with the force of their smiles, and a few giving others bunny ears, the receivers of the gesture completely oblivious. (Or maybe not so oblivious, as one of the bunny ear givers seemed to have an elbow being planted in their stomach at the moment the photo was being taken.)

For a moment, she didn’t recognise what it was she was looking at. But then her gaze caught on the tall, buff man that stood just slightly to the left of the centre of the group. Even with the colours of the picture not matching those of reality, it was easy to see that the man was Harrier, perhaps a dozen years younger, not quite as muscular as he was now, nor with as many stress lines. Then she recognized Starling, posed on the outside of the group.

They were the only two people in the photo that Aerrow knew immediately. And yet… her eyes trailed back to the man placed squarely in the centre of the photo. His hair stuck up all over the place, his head tipped back as he laughed, hand reaching over to ruffle the hair of the man who stood beside him.

Why did he seem so familiar to her?

The question itching at the back of her brain, Aerrow looked up at Harrier, intent on asking the man why this stranger made her chest go tight, only to find Harrier already looking back at her, almost expectant.

The light of his eyes dimmed, though, when he saw the confusion plain on her face. He slumped into himself, his shoulders suddenly looking less broad, his posture less immaculate.

“You don’t recognize him, do you?” he asked, though he clearly already knew what her answer was going to be. Still, Aerrow shook her head in denial. “It’s not unexpected, I suppose,” he mused, eyes sad. “You were so young when he passed.”

“Harrier, who is this?” Aerrow asked, her voice coming out throaty. “Why do I feel like I should know him?”

“That, Aerrow, was a close friend of mine, one who was taken from this world through the cruelty of betrayal, far sooner than he should have been. His name was Lightning Strike, the Sky Knight of the original Storm Hawks.”

Aerrow’s heart gave a lurch in her chest. Now, the positions between her and Harrier were reversed - she had a feeling she knew why Harrier might show her a picture of this familiar stranger without him needing to explain it more.

Harrier continued on, though, even if he could see the understanding dawning on her the longer she stared at the man’s image, speaking the words as if he knew she needed them to be said aloud, if only to confirm that she wasn’t losing her sanity and making illogical conclusions.

“You look so much like your father, Aerrow, it’s uncanny. His hair was just as red as yours, his eyes the same shade of green. But your mother peaks through here and there in your features, and I’m so glad to see both of them living on through you.”

His eyes stayed locked onto her, warmth taking them over so that she knew, with complete certainty, that he meant his next words.

“I’m so glad you survived.”

Chapter Text

She brandished her weapon at her opponent. “Back, Cyclonian scum! I won’t let you take my terra!” She swung her weapon with everything she had but fumbled it slightly. The Cyclonian proved to be cunning and took her misstep as a chance to evade her strike, causing her to stumble forward when her attack didn’t land.

She pouted, staring at both her weapon and feet in betrayal. She was a Sky Knight! She wasn’t supposed to almost drop her weapon or go stumbling around.

“Oh, my,” a voice behind her chuckled. “Got away, did he?”

“Dad!” she whined. “I’m a Sky Knight - Sky Knights never let the Cyclonians get away!”

Another chuckle rose up from behind her, accompanied by a hair ruffle. “Of course. My apologies, Sky Knight Aerrow. Here.” Hands rough with callouses closed over her own softly. “Hold the stick like this, see?” Large hands manipulated her small ones, adjusting them until she had a better grip on her make-shift weapon. “And keep your feet like this.” They reached down to move her feet farther apart. “Try a few swings now, hmm? You’re a Sky Knight, afterall, and I have it on good authority that Sky Knights never let the bad guys get away.”

The presence behind her retreated slightly, enough to be out of range from accidentally getting hit but close enough to observe.

Aerrow gave her stick a couple of swings, delighting in the way that it didn’t slip from her grip or send her staggering, no matter how much force she put into her swing. She laughed, renewing her assault on her imaginary opponent. “This is so cool!” she exclaimed, leaping  to the side as if to dodge a lunge. “I’m gonna be the best Sky Knight ever!”

“Of course, Aerrow, of course. With a swing like that, you’ll send the Cyclonians running,” the voice assured. 

Aerrow paused, suspicious about the tone of the voice. Suddenly, large hands were at her sides, plucking her off the ground and hoisting her into the air, causing her to squeal as they dipped her low to the ground, head first, before bringing her back up, only to do it again. “As soon as she can defeat the horrible sky shark, that is!” her dad said, dipping her again when she tried to wiggle free.

Aerrow laughed.

Aerrow sniffled, wiping away the last of her tears with the cuff of her shirt. She curled her knees closer to her chest when she felt someone sit next to her.

A hand rested against her head, encouraging her to bury her face against a warm side. She followed it willingly, surprised when more tears managed to leak out from her eyes. She would have thought that she had cried them all out.

Lips pressed themselves to the crown of her head. “Oh, Feather,” her dad sighed, a warm hand carding through her hair.

“It’s not fair,” she choked out, eyes squeezing tight. “It’s not fair .”

He let out a small sigh. “I know it’s not, Feather.” That was it - no explanation, or him trying to make it better, or to justify why. Just a statement of fact. It’s not fair .

“You just got back. You were supposed to have the next couple of weeks off.” She glared at the fabric of his shirt, some of her previous anger coming back before it settled again, not enough to lift her sadness. “You promised you’d be here for my birthday.”

“I know,” he sighed again. “But this mission is important. If we don’t help these people, they’re not going to have enough supplies to last them through the siege. We need to go - I need to go. I made a promise to help the people of Atmos when they need it.”

“Couldn’t the others go without you?” she tried, knowing that it wasn’t going to work.

“I would that I could. But I’m the leader, which means -”

“You’re in charge of everyone else. It’s your responsibility to look after them,” Aerrow interrupted.

“Right.” Some time passed in silence. “I’m sorry, Aerrow.”

She just burrowed closer into his side, determined to soak in his warmth while he was still there. He only had a couple of days before he would need to leave again, and she didn’t want to be mad at him during his stay. His visits were short and far apart enough as it was, and she didn’t want to miss him even more while he was gone because she hadn’t spent more time with him while he was back.

(She ignored the part of herself that whispered poison in her ears, telling her that he was picking strangers over his family, her mom and her, again - and that he would continue to do so, no matter what she said to him to try to make him stay.)

Her mother hummed along to the radio, swaying to the melody filling their kitchen. Aerrow crept along the kitchen cupboards, silent as a mouse. She only had one chance to get this right, and so far everything was going perfectly.

She stopped by the oven, her prize sitting on the counter beside it, beckoning to her. She gave one last look to her mother’s back, making sure she remained unnoticed, before reaching up, stretching herself as far as she could and going onto her tip-toes.

Her hand was almost at the bowl of cookie batter when her mother’s voice washed over her ears. “That had better not be your hand trying to get the batter, Aerrow Strike, especially after I already gave you a spoonful of it.”

Aerrow let out a meep and booked it out of the kitchen.

How does she always do that? she thought to herself.

She lay awake in bed, back turned to the door and pillow over her ears. It didn’t do anything to muffle the voices coming from downstairs, raised. Well, one was raised.

“This is ridiculous! Why would you think this is a good idea?!” her mother yelled.

“This might be our only chance. If Cyclonia gathers any more power, it might be too late to stand against them,” her father said. He sounded… small.

“This is never going to work! It doesn’t matter how many squadrons you get together - attacking Master Cyclonis is suicide!”

“And what would you have me do instead? They’re pushing us back, and there’s only so far we can retreat. And even if we didn’t give up ground, if we did manage to hold them off - that’s not a solution! If we don’t stop this now, when we have a chance - a good chance - of overthrowing Cyclonia, then Aerrow is going to grow up with all this - this - war surrounding her, and the next thing either of us will know will be our child inheriting these battles from us!”

Aerrow shifted on her bed, wincing when it let out a loud squeak.

Her parents went quiet. There came the sound of the front door opening and closing.

She closed her eyes, trying to go back to sleep.

Her parents were acting different, wrong , but she couldn’t understand why.

Strong arms gathered her close to a warm body. Lips pressed a kiss to her forehead, lingering.

“I love you, Aerrow. I’ll see you soon.”

But his voice sounded weird. Aerrow’s breath hitched, heart beating quickly in her chest. Why does he sound like that? Why is he holding me so long? This doesn’t feel like his other goodbyes when he leaves, his normal goodbyes. Why doesn’t this feel like a normal goodbye?

She clung tightly to her father, unwilling to let him go until she understood why he was talking like that, like something bad was going to happen. Her fingers had to be pried off him one at a time before she was passed to her mother, struggling against her hold as her dad walked out the door.

“Dad? Dad?! Dad, come back! Dad!”

Her mother sat by a radio, eyes closed tightly shut. Voices were coming out of it, volume turned down low, but Aerrow was close enough to make out what they were saying. Tears were running down her mother’s face, and her hands were clenched in her skirt, knuckles white. She was sobbing, letting out keening noises now and again.

Aerrow, perched on the stairs leading to the second story of her house, stared blankly ahead, hollow on the inside.

There was a knock on the door. Her mother opened it, a smile on her face, only to blanch a second later.

Aerrow, seated on the floor of the living room, had a clear view of her, but not the visitor. She stood, intending to see who had caused her mother to look like that, when her mother’s eyes found hers. They looked absolutely terrified.

“Aerrow, go pack a bag,” she ordered, voice faint.

“What? What do you mean -”

“Go pack a bag, Aerrow! Grab everything that you can, clothes, toys, anything that you would miss.”

Aerrow shied away from her, her heart beating quickly in her chest. Her mother had yelled at her before, but that was when she wasn’t paying attention, or doing something really bad, like punching Cooper because his heavy breathing had been irritating her.

But her mom didn’t sound mad right now, and Aerrow didn’t know what to do with this frazzled creature before her. So she went and packed a bag as quickly as she could. Clothes were ripped off hangers, toys dumped onto the floor so that she could grab her favourites. At some point her mother showed up, a separate bag in her hands that she began to pack herself. Then, once the two bags were packed to the brim, Aerrow was hustled back downstairs by a tight hand on her arm.

“Ow!” she protested. “Mom, you’re hurting me!”

“I’m sorry,” she said, but the grip on Aerrow’s arm didn’t loosen. “But we need to hurry, we don’t have much time.”

“Much time for what?”

Aerrow was ignored.

There was a stranger in their living room, one who wore weird clothing in lots of different colours and sported green hair. Her mother dragged her over to him, then shoved both the bag she was holding and the bag Aerrow was holding into his hands, ignoring his squawking at her brusque actions.

She then knelt down, so that her eyes could make direct contact with Aerrow’s own. “This is Arygyn. The village isn’t safe anymore, so he’s going to be taking you somewhere that will be. I need you to be good for him, okay, Aerrow? Can you do that for me?”

“What does that mean? Why would -”

“Can you do that for me?” she repeated, hands coming up to frame Aerrow’s face.

Overwhelmed, Aerrow simply nodded. Her mother looked relieved, thumbs coming up to trace her cheeks.

“Thank you, Aerrow. I know you’ll do me proud.”

“But what about you?” Aerrow asked, trying to cling to her mother when she stood up. “Aren’t you coming too?”

Her mother looked unbearably sad. “Oh, Aerrow.”

A scream pierced the air, soon followed by another. Aerrow jumped at the unexpected noise, then again when she was shoved into Arygyn’s arms.

“You need to go - now.”

Aerrow and Arygyn were pushed away from the entryway and through the kitchen, to the back door that opened into their garden. They had just stepped outside when the sound of splintering wood resonated from the front of the house.

Aerrow’s mother urged them on faster, Aerrow almost stumbling as she was dragged along by the man until they stood in almost the centre of the garden. From there, Aerrow could see the skimmers flying over her village, their riders firing energy blasts from their seated positions down below or dropping explosives. Smoke drifted towards the sky from multiple directions, and Aerrow could just make out the beginning of flames peeking up over the roof of her house.

Aerrow was confused. Who were these people? Why were they attacking her town? And why was her mom backing away from her, away from Arygyn? If he was taking Aerrow to safety, shouldn’t her mom be getting closer to the strange man, so that he could take her too?

“Mom?” Aerrow cried, panic that had been simmering in her veins since her mom had ordered her to pack her things taking her over in full now. “Mom! You’re coming, too, right? You need to be closer so that he can take you too!”

Aerrow’s mother offered her a smile, regardless of the tears falling down her cheeks. “Take good care of her, Arygyn,” she ordered. Then she turned around, facing the two men that had just burst out of their house from the back door.

Aerrow’s eyes widened as she spotted the symbol on their chests. Cyclonians.

The first hit the ground almost as soon as he got outside, a dagger sticking out of his eye. The other fared no better; Aerrow’s mother had another dagger in hand and was closing the distance between them fast, having started to move as soon as the other had left her hand, regardless of whether it had found its mark or not. It sunk into the man’s chest and he, too, fell over, lifeless.

Arygyn, at the same time, pulled Aerrow even closer to him, wrapping her securely in his arms. “Hold on tight,” he told her.

Aerrow felt an unpleasant yank behind her navel. The world started to blur, as if it was a portrait that was freshly painted and someone had dragged their fingers over the paint before it dried, leaving streaks of the colour behind.

The last she saw of her mother was the woman yanking her daggers out of the two men and rushing headlong back into her house, away from Arygyn and the safety that he promised for Aerrow, but not, Aerrow finally understood, for her.

Five little faces stared at her in curiosity. Two of them were human, a blond boy and a girl with blue hair and dark skin, while the other three were not, belonging to a Wallop, a Merb, and a furry blue creature that Aerrow couldn’t identify. 

Arygyn gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, using the point of contact to steer her over to the others gently. “Welcome to Terra Neverlandis, Aerrow. Let me introduce you to the others.”

Harrier, after their meeting was over, had insisted that the Storm Hawks stay at the Rex Guardians’ home base. Aerrow, still reeling over the shocking news of her father, wanted to decline, to distance herself from this man who saw a ghost in her, before remembering that something else was afoot, something that would be easier to investigate if the Storm Hawks had access to the castle. 

Reluctantly, she had agreed to Harrier’s offer of hospitality. Summoned after their meeting with the Sky Knight, Elise showed them to a corridor of nothing but doors. This hallway was noticeably more unkempt than the other, busier parts of the castle, the ones that saw more daily traffic, with curtains pulled closed and dirt on the carpets and lights set to dim. But still, it was lavish compared to the Condor. Elise proved this as she opened the door to one of the guest rooms.

The air was slightly musty, probably from the door being closed for a while, Aerrow mused, but the sheets on the bed were crisp and clean and there wasn’t much dust gathered on anything. Cleaned regularly, then, but not often. It was a good size, with simplistic decorations, the furniture made from what looked to be quality wood, and a nice view.

“Please pardon any messes,” Elise said to them as they poked their heads in to take a look around. “Had I known that you would be staying here for the night, I would have had someone clean the rooms for you.”

Aerrow gave her head a quick shake. “Don’t worry about it,” she dismissed. “This is plenty. We’ve slept in loads of places that weren’t nearly this nice.”

Elise looked dubious, but let it go with a shake of her head. “You’re more than welcome to choose whichever rooms down this hall you’d like for your sleeping arrangements, and you’re free to move around the castle to explore. However, there will be some places that are off-limits due to the other guests we are currently hosting, so we ask that you please have someone with you if you do decide to leave these rooms so that you don’t get lost.”

Aerrow shot a sharp look at the woman out of the corner of her eye before exchanging a glance with Piper.

After that, the Storm Hawks were allowed some time to pick which rooms they wanted for their stay, then escorted back outside to their skimmers so that they could make their way back to the Condor to grab whatever they might need, with a stop made in town for any other essentials that they used up during their hunt for the phoenix.

Stuff in hand and sun starting to sink, they had made their way back to the castle, where they dispersed for the next few hours so that they could each focus on their own things, only reconvening quickly for supper - eaten by themselves, with a couple of attendants nearby in case they needed anything - and just before they went to bed, where Piper confirmed that she had managed to create at least a few theories about what might be happening on Terra Neon, but would need more time to verify facts before she would present them to the group.

When Aerrow collapsed into her borrowed bed that night, she knew without a doubt that her sleep wouldn’t be restful. There was just too much going through her head - Terra Neon, the VIP visiting the Rex Guardians that no-one was allowed to know about, why she couldn’t remember her dream from the night before, even though it was clearly strong enough to affect her mood the following morning…

Yeah, Arrow hadn’t thought that her night would be peaceful.

But now, sitting up in bed, half-forgotten memories mixing together in her mind, Aerrow wondered why she hadn’t thought to take the shocking revelation of her father’s identity into account.

She pulled back her covers, swinging her feet onto cool stone and making her way across the room, to where a photo of both her parents on their wedding day sat on the room’s dresser. Harrier had slipped it to her once the meeting was over, claiming that he had plenty of other photos of them and that she deserved to have something with them in it.

Aerrow picked up the old piece of paper, eyes studying the couple depicted within its borders. They seemed so unbelievably happy in the moment, like the weight of the war had no chance of breaking through the peace and love they had created that day. Her father had his arms wrapped around her mother’s waist so he could pull her closer, their foreheads lightly pressed against each other as they swayed to some invisible music, oblivious to the crowd around them.

It wasn’t that she didn’t know that her father was a Sky Knight, Aerrow mused, placing the image back down. Arygyn had never tried to hide that from her, and even if he had, her own earlier memories could be relied upon for that information. It was more that, over time, as Aerrow grew, what her parents had looked like started to get… hazy. Maybe she just hadn’t tried hard enough to keep their images in her brain, or maybe she had subconsciously chosen remembering how they acted as more important than how they looked, but the results were the same. Whenever she thought back to her life before Neverlandis, whenever she conjured up images of her childhood before that fateful day, Aerrow could confidently say how her parents had made her feel in certain moments - loved, protected, safe, cherished… but she couldn’t even begin to guess at what colour her mom’s eyes were, or whether or not her father had developed wrinkles from the stress of the war.

The photo was set back on the dresser. There was no way she was going to be able to go back asleep, so she may as well do something productive. Aerrow changed out of her pyjamas to a simple t-shirt and shorts, deciding to let her hair drape down her back instead of pulling it up into a ponytail. 

A quick peek outside the bedroom door showed the illumination crystals hanging periodically along the walls had been dimmed. Aerrow took her chance to slip out of her borrowed room, lightly closing the door behind her before setting off in a random direction.

She crept along quickly but quietly, ears pricked for the sound of footsteps on carpet, all while keeping a wary eye on her surroundings. The hallway, which had invited guests to gaze at its decorations in awe during the day, now seemed to loom up over her, turning innocent shadows that lingered at the corners of her vision into monstrous figures when she glanced at them wrong. 

And this is why you don’t go sneaking through places you don’t belong when you’re tired, Aerrow thought wryly. First you start jumping at nothing, then the next thing you know you’re so paranoid that everything is suddenly out to eat you.

She wasn’t quite sure for how long she wandered the eerie halls of the castle, more focused on keeping track of which way she turned at branching hallways than trying to track how long she had been exploring. All she could say for sure was that she had been out of bed for at least twenty minutes, but no more than an hour, when she finally came across a clue to answering one of the thoughts that had prevented her from getting a decent night’s rest.

Something Aerrow had learned over the course of her wandering: the Guardians apparently had enough members that they could set up a night-shift patrol of their home base. Cool, good for them. If she had enough people on her team, she would do the same thing. The thing was, though, that they were easy to avoid. The guards were never exactly quiet, so it was easy to retrace her steps whenever she heard footsteps coming in her direction, ducking behind corners or behind the furniture in the halls whenever she needed.

Which was why she was flat-footed when she turned a corner, only to fling herself back around it, back flat to the wall as her heart galloped in her chest.

Had they seen her? Aerrow tried to press herself further into the wall, like she had any chance of being able to sink into it and disappear if someone actually came around the corner.

Her ears strained to pick up on any sound, but there wasn’t anything. Just clothes shuffling as weight was shifted.

A moment passed, then another. Aerrow let her breath out slowly, muscles unclenching from their unconscious tightening. Oh thank Saya. That could have gone wrong so very quickly. I’m taking that as the sign it is - I’m definitely going back to my room after that.

Much more cautiously than she had been at the start of her night-time stroll, Aerrow retraced her steps back through the castle halls and into her bed, where she pulled the covers up to her chin and closed her eyes, though she had no actual plans to actually try sleeping again.

Come on, think! What did they look like? Aerrow thought to herself, brow furrowing as she dragged the details of her brief flash of the guards to the fore-front of her mind. One of them had been dressed in golden armour, with a swan pinned to the front of their uniform - obviously they had been a Rex Guardian. But the other… Dark, inconspicuous, every-day type clothing, with no symbol anywhere on their person to indicate who they were affiliated with… that was some cause for concern. And their weapon - a staff, something that wasn’t commonly chosen among the protectors of the Atmos.

Aerrow turned over to bury her face in her pillow and let out a groan. She really didn’t like what this was shaping up to look like.

She could barely see the path in front of her. It was almost non-existent, with plant overgrowth covering most of the trail on either side.

She pushed a branch from one tree out of her way, then ducked under another. Her destination was hazy in her mind, but she knew, almost instinctively, that she still wasn’t there yet.

She forged on.

Time seemed distorted, in this place of nature. Seconds would stretch into minutes or hours, then shorten again to their proper length.

Bird calls echoed through the brush unevenly, changing their pitch mid sound just to cut out before they even finished. Yet others still rang out sweetly, as if beckoning her to leave her path and explore the darkened forest around her.

She was tempted, but a voice in her head urged her on still, insisting that she had no time for breaks. In fact, she found herself picking up speed, the strange calmness that had pervaded her so thoroughly before falling away as that same voice urged to to move faster, faster, faster - you’re not fast enough you need to move faSTER - 

Lush green rushed past her, the siren call of the birds drowned out by her harsh pants. How long had she been running, again? Surely not that long, and yet she needed to take a break, she couldn’t catch her breath, her lungs and legs were burning from the exertion of sprinting for so long -

A wall of foliage loomed before her. She wasn’t quite sure why, but she didn’t bother slowing down, a gut instinct telling her that she didn’t have to worry about crashing into it. Still, her eyes squeezed closed of their own accord before she could make contact with the hanging plants.

Sure enough, she felt nothing. 

Aerrow blinked her eyes open. Around her, stone walls loomed. Mounds of treasure filled the room she was in, covering every inch of the floor except for a perfect circle in the very middle of the room. In its centre stood a statue, the light of the room almost casting it in a spotlight.

A quick glance behind her showed no trace of the foliage she had just crashed through. Just a stone wall to match the other three sides of the room.

A voice called her name, beckoning. But there was no one else in the room, just her. Unless -

The statue remained as it had before, completely inanimate. Still, she approached cautiously. Her ears strained, trying to hear any whisper in the room. A beat of silence. Another. Another after that.

Then, her name again. The same voice as before, while she was running along that path, the same one that had called her name the first time. It was almost fond. 

“I’ve been waiting, Aerrow.” A hum sounded out. “But I will need to wait a little more, still. You’ve done well to come this far, visiting me two nights in a row, but I fear that it is still too soon. Close your eyes, child. Our time together draws to a close. See if you can find me again when your eyes next close - perhaps the next time, we will be able to speak to one another.”

Even though she tried to fight it, to open her mouth so that she could ask what was happening to her, who the voice belonged to, her eyes drifted close.

The next morning, the Storm Hawks were led to the same room that they had dined in the night before. They sat around the long table, three on each side and clustered at one end, while servants brought in their breakfast. Scrambled eggs with cheese, peppers, and green onions cooked in, warm toast with various jams, and pitchers of juice were brought in, along with a couple of platters filled with various fruits. 

They thanked the helpers, then dug in with relish, Finn, Junko, and Radarr making noises of appreciation in particular as they quickly filled their plates and then just as quickly emptied them again. Aerrow, Piper, and Stork ate with less justo than their teammates, but no less relish. There was something so very satisfying in eating delicious food that they didn’t need to help make that made the food all the more tasty.

“So what’s on the agenda?” Finn asked between bites of egg. 

Piper wiped at her mouth with her napkin. “Well, Aerrow and I have to meet with Harrier, but that’s not going to happen until at least after lunch - what with the other visitors. In the meantime, I was hoping to go back to the library to do some more research. Yesterday I spent most of my time there just looking for titles that might prove useful and skimming through the pages of any that caught my eye. I’m hoping to actually start reading the ones that I picked out.”

Finn squinted at her. “So… not something you’re going to need help with?” he inquired.

Piper sighed. “No, Finn, I won’t make you look through the books with me.”

Finn lit up. He stood with exuberance, his chair screeching against the floor as it was pushed back. “Okay, cool, in that case I’m gonna be on the training field if you need me bye!”

And just like that, the blond was gone.

Aerrow stared after him for a beat. Turning to the others, she asked, “Did Finn just willingly say he was going to train? On a day off?”

Stork snorted. “He saw the female recruits practising there yesterday.”

“Ah. That would explain it.”

The rest of them finished up at a more reasonable pace, also taking the time after they were finished eating to stack their plates up as they finished eating.

They dispersed, each headed to the activity of their own choosing - except for Radarr, who perched himself on Aerrow’s shoulder. It was as they were leaving that Aerrow pulled the other girl on her squad to the side, casting a quick look around them to make sure that there wasn’t anyone close enough to hear what she was about to ask.

There wasn’t, their assigned escorts standing a respectable distance back as if to prove they really were there only to help the Storm Hawks find their way around the Rex Guardians’ home and terra.

Still, Aerrow made sure to arrange a grin on her face as she leaned closer to Piper. Hopefully the guards would think nothing of it - just two teenage girls gossiping about something trivial, maybe slightly embarrassing, as they were wont to do. “I’m really sorry to ask you this, Piper, but could you do me a favour?”

The bluenette caught on quickly, letting out a titter as she leaned in closer. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“I need you to do some research on any terras that use staves as the main form of weapon.”

Piper’s brow furrowed briefly before she caught herself, expression smoothing back out. “I suppose… Any particular reason?”

Aerrow briefly shook her head. “Not something I can talk about right now. It’d take too long to explain.”

“I see. Sure, no problem. Want me to look for this before I start looking for answers about our missing people?”

Aerrow’s smile shifted from crafted to genuine. “If you could, that would be amazing. Thanks Piper, you’re the best!”

She caught the other girl in a crushing hug. Piper let out an oof before laughing, squeezing Aerrow back for a few seconds before nudging her away, making shooing motions with her hands when Aerrow pretended to stagger back.

“Shoo, shoo!” she scolded. “I’m a very busy girl, you know, I can’t have you taking up all my time in a day. First scandalous rendez-vous in hallways, then unexpected attacks of affection - you’ll give a girl the wrong impression.”

Aerrow ducked her playful swats and ran away, laughing as she ducked behind a corner while her guard started running after her, a startled look on his face at her unexpected break for freedom.

“Sky Knight Aerrow, wait for me! You might get lost!”

Aerrow and Radarr ended up wandering Honia for the rest of the morning, their guard keeping pace beside them as he pointed out what was what and gave little tidbits of the town - that that restaurant there had good food, but it was a little pricey, so they’d have better luck going to this other place, which had food that was almost as good and prices that were less likely to dent the wallet of whoever bought food there; that the theatre currently had three plays going on, the tragedy by far the best of them; that following that road out of town would lead to a popular hiking trail, if she had energy that she wanted to get rid of.

They sampled bits of food from vendors as they went, offered to them freely when the owners realised they were squadron members. Aerrow was a sucker for the fried dough covered in sugar and cinnamon, but made a face at the tartness of a candy, while Radarr went bananas over a large drumstick slathered in sauce, but pointedly turned his nose up at anything even vaguely resembling a vegetable.

She had fun, walking around the city and taking in the sights. It wasn’t often that they were able to wander around towns without a purpose. More often than not, lately, they were swamped with missions from the Council, needing to fly all over Atmos as they aided a squadron here, or ran interference there. The majority of their time was either spent on the Condor or on their rides - which was fine, don’t get her wrong! The Condor was home, and there was no place she would rather be than there with her family! - with only a small percentage of their lives spent on other Terras - and when it was, that was typically also for missions, so they didn’t get a chance to enjoy where they were staying before they needed to move on.

It was surprisingly relaxing, to be able to wander around as she pleased, not needing to worry about buying necessities before hitting the road again, or fighting off Cyclonians or other wild creatures, or running away from whatever trouble had managed to find the Storm Hawks this time.

Although the last one still had time to change, she conceded, depending on what was happening back at the castle.

I suppose I shouldn’t jinx it, she thought ruefully, watching with fond amusement as Radarr zipped between food stalls, eyes boggling, ears and tail twitching with excitement. She let out a little laugh as she went to join him, crouching down to his level when he turned to her, presenting whatever had caught his eye for her inspection. I’ll just have to enjoy this while I can. Worrying about the future can wait. For now, I’m just happy to be experiencing this.

Her morning of peace, of course, was interrupted almost as soon as she, Radarr, and their guard had finished depositing their (Aerrow’s and Radarr’s) shopping bags on Aerrow’s borrowed bed.

Piper let herself into Aerrow’s room without even bothering to knock on the door to announce her arrival. She just pushed the door the rest of the way open and came to stand beside the guard.

Aerrow raised her eyebrow. “Uh, knock much?”

Piper waved her hand dismissively. “Please, if you didn’t want to be bothered, that door would have been closed and locked.”

This was true, so all Aerrow could do was shrug in response to concede the point. “What’s up?”

“I figured now would be a good time to talk. You free?”

“I guess?”

“Great!” Piper spun in place, hand latching onto the arm of the guard. He sputtered as she manhandled him to the door and then shoved him through, giving him an innocent smile completely at odds to her actions. “Sorry, no boys allowed!” she sing-songed. With a wink, she pushed the door closed on his surprised expression, locking it immediately after. A muffling crystal was placed over the crack between the door and door frame, lighting it up a soft shade of green.

Aerrow and Radarr exchanged a look. “Um, was that necessary?” Aerrow questioned the other girl, who swiped her hands together like she had just completed a hard task.

Piper gave her a look like she was a little slow. “Of course not,” she scoffed, making her way over to the bed. She gave it a contemplative look, then shoved over the shopping bags so that she could plop down onto the soft mattress. “But we need privacy for our conversation, and hopefully this will keep any eavesdroppers away. Even if he’s suspicious about what we’re talking about, he can’t exactly come barging in here to find out. Worst case scenario, he goes to get someone else to open the door and interrupts us. But then we get to turn it around on them, because why would it matter to them if we wanted privacy to talk about something?” She gave them a smug look. “Basically, they can’t do jack shit overtly because then they would have to admit they’ve been semi-spying on all of our actions.”

Aerrow and Radarr blinked at her. “You’re very scary,” Aerrow decided. Radarr chirped in agreement.

“Aw, thank you!”

“That wasn’t - ah, forget it.” Aerrow joined the other girl on the bed, Radarr hopping up too so that he could start rifling through their bags. One by one their items started being unloaded, separated neatly into piles for their intended recipient. “What have you got for me?”

At this, Piper turned serious, her mischievous smile replaced with furrowed brows and lips pressed into a neutral line. “Not much, I’m afraid. As you know, most squadrons in Free Atmos don’t subscribe to the mentality of only practising one weapon for the group. Rather, each member uses whichever weapon they feel most comfortable with.”

Aerrow nodded to show her understanding. It was the practical thing to do, the vast majority of squadrons agreed. Why force someone to learn how to fight with a sword when they fought better with a bow? It just made more sense to train people at what they were good at. And it also allowed for squadrons to have variety for when they needed it. Having everyone be good at something different meant that there was less likely a chance of encountering a scenario where no one could do anything. Although, it needed to be said that this way of thinking also came with its own downsides. Afterall, if only one person on a team knew how to, say, fix a skimmer, then what would happen if something happened to that team if their mechanic was knocked unconscious but they needed a ride to be fixed to make a getaway?

“That being said,” Piper continued, pulling Aerrow’s thoughts back to the original topic, “there are groups out there that do subscribe to the idea that everyone should use the same weapon. The most notable ones that use staves are the Crystal Mages, who, as suggested by the name, specialise in fighting with crystals attached to staves instead of physical combat, and the Faceless Monks, who use the bō staff for physical attacks.”

“And would either of them have reason to be here, hiding their identities?” Aerrow questioned.

Piper spread her hands helplessly. “None that I can think of. The Monks do wear their masks at almost all times, but that wouldn’t mean they would need to conceal their presence from others if they decided to visit another squadron. They like to stay anonymous, but not to that extent. And the Mages have been under heavy pressure from Cyclonia since the beginning of the war. They wouldn’t have time to travel across most of the Free Atmos from their territory here, not without leaving their home terra extremely vulnerable. Is it possible, yes, I suppose, but it’s very, very unlikely that it’s them.”

Aerrow’s upper teeth closed down on her bottom lip, applying gentle pressure as she worried at it. “So it’s probably not a squadron, is what you’re saying.” Piper nodded in agreement. “Then what about someone from Neutral Atmos? Someone who could be targeted if anyone noticed they were talking to a squadron?”

Piper gave her a nod of approval for the deduction. “That’s what I thought next. So I did some digging there, but, again, there’s not a lot of options that I could find. Most raiders use sharp weapons, because they’re both easier to maim someone with and because they can use them to cut cargo free from any ropes that might be holding it in place. Traders and merchants could have hired people to guard them if they can to make trade agreements, but that still doesn’t make sense to me. There are terras out in the neutral zone that prefer staves, but to send so many fighters out? Once again, that would be leaving their own territory vulnerable if somebody decided to attack.”

“Verdict on that idea, then?”

Piper shook her head. “Possible, but not plausible.”

“Which leaves the last option - enemy terras.” And while they were numerous, they were almost all united under the same banner.

“Of the Free Atmos’ active enemies, the only ones who staves the most are Cyclonians,” Piper confirmed. She fidgeted with her fingers, then looked up to make eye contact with the redhead. “I know you couldn’t really explain why you wanted me to look this stuff up this morning, but with your earlier question I think I can put the pieces together. But, Aerrow, why do you think that the people the Guardians are hiding are primarily staff wielders? And Cyclonians at that?”

Aerrow didn’t answer the other girl right away, instead standing from the bed so that she could look out the bedroom window. From it she could see the training fields located behind that castle, as well as what looked to be a small garden. Further behind that sat the tree line to the forest ( green blurring by, then stone walls and a stone face ) that surrounded the castle on all sides. But she wasn’t currently interested in the sights, more focused on looking out at the people who were currently outside, enjoying the nice weather.

There were hired staff standing underneath fruit trees, clothes dirty, fanning at their faces with their sun hats. Finn was still on the field and had even managed to attract a small crowd to him, the boys with sullen looks on their faces and the girls with bashful ones. Other recruits stood further back in the fields, practising drills. Plenty of people to gaze upon, yet none of them who Aerrow was looking for. Where could they be?

Aha! There!

“Come take a look at this.” Aerrow beckoned to the bluenette, who gamely jumped up and wandered over to stand beside her. Radarr joined them as well, despite not being called over, peering out the window from his perch of Aerrow’s shoulder. “Do you see those guards who are patrolling, the ones to the far left that are walking along the path coming towards the castle?”

Piper squinted; Radarr cocked his head. “Yeah, I see them.”

“Notice anything?”

The other girl thought for a moment. “Well, one of them is obviously a Rex Guardian. The other… I’m assuming the other is a guard that our mystery visitor brought along with them.” Aerrow nodded in encouragement and made a motion to indicate ‘what else?’ “And the guard we can’t recognize has a staff for a weapon,” Piper finally concluded. She gave Aerrow a searching glance. “Okay? And? It’s not a crime for people to use a staff, Aerrow.”

Aerrow rolled her eyes at the sass. “No duh, Piper. But that’s the fourth guard of unknown origins that I’ve seen that has a staff for a weapon. And yes, before you ask, the four of them are all different people.” 

Piper closed her mouth with a sheepish smile. “Fair. But that still doesn’t prove that they’re Cyclonians. Are you sure you aren’t just being paranoid, creating clues that fit your narrative instead of creating a narrative out of the clues that are there? We can’t exactly keep an accurate record of what’s happening in Neutral Atmos or Cyclonian territory. These guests may very well be a new group that popped up. Staves are the easiest weapons to create in a pinch, and the most inexpensive to buy when you’re just starting out. Maybe these guys don’t have enough money to diversify yet.”

Aerrow's gaze tracked the patrol pair for a little longer before she turned away from the window. “That’s what I was afraid of hearing,” she admitted, bringing a hand up to run it through her ponytail. She scratched Radarr under the chin, thinking about the issue. “I don’t know, guys,” she admitted. “Maybe I am being paranoid about this. I mean, we just saw Dark Ace the other day, so it’s not like I can’t say that Cyclonia hasn’t been on my mind. But there’s just…” she trailed off with a sigh. “There’s just something that feels off about this to me.”

Piper gave her a sympathetic look. Out of their group, this was something that the two of them did the most. They would get so caught up in their own thoughts that it was hard to tear their minds away to focus on something else once they got going.

The bluenette reached out to lay her hand on Aerrow’s shoulder and give it a squeeze of sympathy. “How about we see what we can get out of Harrier in our meeting this afternoon, hmm? Maybe if we poke at him a little, ask some questions with double meanings, something will slip. No person can keep everything a secret forever. Even things he refuses to say can be clues in their own right.”

Aerrow offered the other girl a grateful smile. “Thank you, Piper.”

She waved the apology off, then clapped her hands together and rubbed them vigorously. “Now, what did you get me from the market? I swear to Saya if there isn’t a new book in there -”

The meeting - well, to put it nicely, their meeting with Harrier didn’t yield results of any variety. To put it into words that better fit Aerrow’s mood: it was an absolute waste of time and Aerrow wanted to wring Harrier’s beefy neck. Just to vent, of course, not because she actually wanted to kill the man.

He had let absolutely nothing slip in regards to the other visitor he was playing host to. Nothing, nada, nil, zilch, zip, diddly squat, etcetera, etcetera. For three hours. Any time either of the girls had even broached the subject, no matter how broadly (“Is it true that Honia is looking to broaden its trading network?”, for example), the man managed to eel his way out of the question without answering anything at all. 

(“I suppose it might be, but I wouldn’t be the one to ask about that.”

“You wouldn’t be consulted about the security logistics of something like that?”

“Oh, yes, I suppose I would be.”

“...”)

And to make matters more frustrating, they didn’t get any farther into determining what might be happening on Terra Neon. The only thing they could do was narrow down the possibilities - but when those possibilities could number in the several hundred, that wasn’t saying much.

Aerrow's head hit the book resting on the table in front of her with a thunk. “My head hurts,” she complained, words muffled from the paper pages.

Piper let out a sigh, hand coming up to pinch the bridge of her nose like that would allow her to ward off an oncoming headache. “As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with you. I don’t think I can think about this anymore without going insane or screaming.”

Harrier let out a chuckle, pushing his own book off to the side from his own place at the table. “I believe that means it’s time to call it a day.” He glanced at his watch. “Would you be amenable to continuing our search tomorrow?” He paused for a moment, as if a thought had just occurred to him. “Unless you need to leave before then? I believe you had mentioned not wishing to stay here for more than two days, if at all possible.”

Aerrow gave it a second’s thought before shrugging. “We can stretch it to three.” She paused to think of how to best phrase her next words. “What’s happening on Terra Neon - us investigating it has nothing to do with the Council. We just want to find out what’s going on before even more people end up missing.” She lifted her head to stare straight ahead of her, eyes focusing on the wall as her fingers tapped on the table. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to spend some time on research - it’s the smart thing to do, really - but at some point there comes a time when you’ve spent too much time researching and not enough time doing , you know? Like” - she gestured to all the books spread out on the table, some stacked neatly off to the side while others were carelessly pushed over to make room, pages still open - “we could spend weeks going through everything, have nothing to show for it, and how many more people would have disappeared by then?”

Piper gave a thumb’s up to show her agreement, head still buried in her book. “But one more day just to go over a few more theories or look up some more info might be useful,” came her muffled voice. “And if that doesn’t give us anything, then the next step will be actually going to Terra Neon to start investigating who or what is causing these people to go missing. Who knows, maybe we’ll learn something while we’re there that will fit into what we’ve looked at here and make the case easier to solve.”

Aerrow turned from staring at the wall to focus her attention back on Harrier. He had a weird look on his face, as if he was confused about something but didn’t feel like it was his place to ask about it.

“Something the matter?” Aerrow prompted.

“The investigation into the matter wasn’t assigned to you by the Council?” the large man asked slowly.

“No?” was her response. Why would that be what threw the other Sky Knight off?

“Then why are you investigating it?” was his next question.

Now it was Aerrow’s turn to be confused. “Why wouldn’t we? People are going missing, probably ending up dead, if not worse, and we have a chance to try to stop it from happening again. As a Sky Knight, it’s my duty to help the people of Atmos, even when I’m not ordered to by the Council. Or do you really think that just because the Council didn’t give me a direct order that those people on Terra Neon don’t deserve to have someone find out what happened to them and prevent others from suffering the same fate?” She was heated by the end of her mini-rant, fingers clenching into fists where they rested on the table.

Even Piper had lifted her head, giving the older man a hard look that dared him to contradict what Aerrow had just said.

But if anything, Harrier had softened at her words, lips coming up in a small smile and eyes shining warmly. “My apologies, I didn’t mean to make you so heated. Of course these people deserve justice, and of course whatever is happening should be stopped. It’s merely been a while since I’ve had a squadron stepping in to help someone sorely because it was the right thing to do. It’s refreshing to see it, that's all.”

Aerrow’s hackles lowered down, embarrassment at the praise rushing in to fill the space her retreating anger just left. Her face felt warm.

“Oh. Sorry.”

“No harm done,” Harrier chuckled.

Welp, time to vacate the area so that she could go scream into a pillow over the fact that she had just told off another Sky Knight for a misunderstanding - and one who had been in service for over a decade, at that.

Aerrow hastily started to gather the books nearest to her into a few stacks. Piper, sensing her embarrassment, quickly followed her lead, doing the same. In short order they could actually see the table top, and all the books had been pushed to one end of the table so that it could still be used by anyone who might need it.

She hesitated, looking at the literature. On one hand, she really wanted to leave them there so that they wouldn’t need to waste time looking for all the books again tomorrow. But on the other hand, they were currently in the library that all the occupants of the castle used (because of course the castle had a library all of its own, why would she ever think otherwise?). It seemed rude to just leave them there, even with the other half of the table free.

Harrier must have sensed her indecision. “I’ll let the staff know to leave the books there for the night.”

Piper gave him a smile as she passed him, heading to the library doors. “Thank you, Harrier.”

Aerrow gave him her own smile, too, but didn’t make it far past the man when she felt his large hand land gently on her shoulder.

“Actually, Aerrow, may I speak to you for a moment? I promise it won’t be long.”

Considering Aerrow currently wanted to hide in her room for the next hour to avoid the man, she would really rather not. But she also owed it to him after basically accusing him of not caring about civilians, so she guessed she was having this chat whether she wanted to or not.

“Is something wrong?” Because that was the only reason she could come up with on why he would want to speak with her privately. Unless he really was mad about her sudden flare of temper, which would be fair enough. Saya knew she wouldn’t have been able to keep her cool if their positions were reversed and it had been Harrier ranting at her about not doing her job properly.

“No, no, nothing of the sort,” the blond assured her. “It was actually about yesterday, at our first meeting.” He gave her a significant look.

Aerrow didn’t get it. She cocked her head.

“I would like to offer my apologies about, ah, revealing your ancestry to you without asking if you would have liked to know first. I could tell that it caused you some turmoil.”

That was putting it mildly. The rug had been swept out from under her so thoroughly at the news that the rest of the meeting had passed in a haze. She could still hear what was being said around her, Harrier telling the Storm Hawks that he wouldn’t be able to help them out that day, but he would be available the afternoon of the next, but they were allowed to help themselves to the Rex Guardians’ resources while they were waiting, but she had felt - almost detached from her own body. Experiencing the world around her, instead of just passively observing it, had only filtered back in as they were being carted around by Elise.

“I could have done things much better,” Harrier continued wryly. “I could have asked to stay behind after, for starters, and asked you what you already knew about your history, as well as what you would like to know, if anything at all, rather than assuming any news I could give you would be welcomed with open arms and a glad heart.”

Aerrow was touched. She didn’t know much about him aside from what she gleaned from rumours, but everyone had always said that he was a proud man that didn’t often admit to his missteps. The fact that he was willing to apologise to her, after only knowing her for a day, about something that many other people wouldn’t have thought twice about - it was nice.

“Thank you, Harrier.” She made sure to keep his gaze as she said the words, to be sure he understood that it did mean something to her, his apology.

He bowed his head in return. Still, though, he made no move to dismiss her. “Just one more thing, then, and I’ll leave you be. I had mentioned it yesterday, though perhaps your mind was elsewhere when I did” - a very nice way of acknowledging that she had been a space case- “so I will mention it again, at the risk of harping on - if you have any questions about your parents, I will endeavour to do my best to answer them, or to direct you to someone or something that might prove more useful than I. I was much closer to your father than your mother, after all.” He sounded almost rueful about it, like he should have tried harder to get his sometimes-coworker’s wife more, even though he couldn’t have seen her often in person and only would have heard about her whenever Lightning brought her up.

Aerrow knew that this would perhaps be the best chance she would ever get to ask someone about her parents - Harrier had worked with Lightning often, for all that they weren’t on the same squadron (as learned from in history textbooks), and here he was, willing to take time out of his schedule to indulge whatever her curiosity might be. 

Still. “I think that I’ll have to pass,” is what she ended up saying. “I’m grateful that you would do that for me. But… I don’t think that the details of what they were like matter to me, at least not right now.

“I have some memories of them. Not a lot, true, and not about what they looked like. But the ones I do have tell me all that I need to know. That they weren’t perfect, and that they could argue for hours about my dad’s job, and they would always place helping somebody over helping themselves first, even when they really should have.” She met Harrier’s blue eyes and gave a small, bittersweet smile. “That Dad always tried his best to come home in one piece after a mission, and they wanted me to be happy, and safe. That they loved me.”

Her fingers tangled together as she looked down at her hands, a small amount of shame coming over her as she voiced her thoughts aloud but nowhere near enough to overcome the sense of peace she had in regards to her parents’ memory, the confidence she had in her decision. “Maybe it makes me a bad daughter, to not try to learn everything about them, to rebuff someone’s efforts when they’re trying to reach out about people that I’ll never have the chance to see again… but I’m happy with where I am in life; I don’t think knowing their favourite colours, or how they met, or what music they listened to, will bring me anymore happiness, or give me clarity to any questions I have about myself that I couldn’t already answer.”

Two hands placed themselves on her shoulders, causing her to raise her eyes back to Harrier’s. She had thought that maybe he would have been angry at her, or disappointed in her choice, but all he looked was proud. “I don’t think that makes you a bad daughter at all,” he said. “I think that makes you a young woman who knows her own mind and feelings very well. I’ll trust your judgement on this. Just know that if you do ever change your mind, I’ll be happy to tell you about them.”

“Thank you, Harrier.”

“You’re welcome, Aerrow. Now, there are still many hours in the day before it’s time to worry about sleeping. Why don’t you go find your friends so that you can enjoy them together.”

Gently, large hands, covered in calluses, turned her towards the library’s doors, pushing her towards the world outside this small little space.

For a moment - just a moment - Aerrow was brought back to her childhood, where large hands guided her into a stance that was more stable for swinging a stick at imaginary enemies. Their phantom touch disappeared just as quickly as they came, leaving Aerrow to once again continue forwards on her own.

She could barely see the path in front of her. It was almost non-existent, with plant overgrowth covering most of the trail on either side.

She pushed a branch from one tree out of her way, then ducked under another. Her destination was hazy in her mind, but she knew, almost instinctively, that she still wasn’t there yet.

She forged on.

Time seemed distorted, in this place of nature. Seconds would stretch into minutes or hours, then shorten again to their proper length.

Bird calls echoed through the brush unevenly, changing their pitch mid sound just to cut out before they even finished. Yet others still rang out sweetly, as if beckoning her to leave her path and explore the darkened forest around her.

She was tempted, but a voice in her head urged her on still, insisting that she had no time for breaks. In fact, she found herself picking up speed, the strange calmness that had pervaded her so thoroughly before falling away as that same voice urged to to move faster, faster, faster - you’re not fast enough you need to move faSTER - 

Lush green rushed past her, the siren call of the birds drowned out by her harsh pants. How long had she been running, again? Surely not that long, and yet she needed to take a break, she couldn’t catch her breath, her lungs and legs were burning from the exertion of sprinting for so long -

A wall of foliage loomed before her. She wasn’t quite sure why, but she didn’t bother slowing down, a gut instinct telling her that she didn’t have to worry about crashing into it. Still, her eyes squeezed closed of their own accord before she could make contact with the hanging plants.

Sure enough, she felt nothing. 

Aerrow blinked her eyes open. Around her, stone walls loomed. Mounds of treasure filled the room she was in, covering every inch of the floor except for a perfect circle in the very middle of the room. In its centre stood a statue, the light of the room almost casting it in a spotlight.

She didn’t bother turning around. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew that doing so would just reveal another stone wall, same as the ones that surrounded her everywhere else.

A voice called her name, beckoning. But there was no one else in the room, just her and the statue.

She paused. Took a step closer to the statue. Stepped back to her original position. It was just a statue, there was no way -

Hesitatingly, she made her way forward.

The statue remained as it had before, completely inanimate. The closer she got, the more it loomed over her, standing at least ten feet high.

Her ears strained, trying to hear any whisper in the room. A beat of silence. Another. Another after that.

Then, her name again. The same voice as before, while she was running along that path, the same one that had called her name the first time. It was almost fond. 

“I’ve been waiting, Aerrow.” A hum sounded out. “You’ve done well to find me again. I wasn’t sure if you would be able to, considering you were here just last night.”

Aerrow stopped a few feet away from the statue. There was no way - but it was the only thing that made sense - but it made no sense at all - but what else could explain -

She opened her mouth. No words came out. Her tongue wetted her lips. She tried again. “Are you the voice that I’ve been hearing?”

The stone of the statue’s eyes seemed to gleam. “Indeed I am.”

Aerrow swallowed. “And I’ve been here before?”

“You have.” Simple, to the point.

“Why don’t I remember being here?”

“Are you sure you don’t?” was the retort.

“Of course I don’t!” Aerrow denied. “I think I would remember being trapped in a room with a talking statue!”

“Are you positive about that?”

She hesitated. Was she positive about that? Well, yes, she had to be. One didn’t exactly stumble upon talking inanimate objects on the daily. But - standing by the windows, a flash of green -

“Maybe?" she hazarded. “Not completely, but maybe flashes?”

Another hum of interest. “Still not quite time, it would appear.”

Aerrow's eyebrows drew together. “What do you mean by that? What isn’t it time for? No, wait, back up - why don’t I remember being here before?”

“You’re getting frustrated.” An observation with a hint of curiosity.

“Oh course I am! You’re being cryptic and not answering my questions!”

“Ah. Then let me put you at ease. The answer to both your questions is the same. You don’t remember our meetings because it is not yet time for us to meet in the physical world. To do so would cause the timeline to shift in a rather… unfavourable manner. Hence you forgetting.”

Arrow’s head felt like it should be hurting, but there was a strange absence of pain. “Timeline? What do you -”

“Ah,” the statue interrupted. “It seems that it is time for us to part. Do not despair, Aerrow, for we shall meet again.”

Aerrow took a step forward.

Black rushed up to consume her.

Aerrow woke up to a pounding on her door.

“Aerrow!” Junko shouted, baning on the door again. He sounded panicked, freaked out.

She rushed out of bed, almost falling to the floor as her sheets - at some point kicked off the bed - tangled around her feet. She yanked the door open, only to dodge to the left, the Wallop’s fist almost striking her in the face as he went to knock again.

‘What is it?” she asked, taking in the Wallop. His eyes were wide, his hands trembling. The rest of the Storm Hawks were assembled behind him, all of them in various states of waking up. Finn was barely keeping his eyes open, while Stork seemed to be the most awake. “Junko, what - why did you wake everyone up?”

“Okay, so, I needed to go pee but I couldn’t find a Guardian to take me there. And I know we aren’t supposed to go anywhere without them and I really didn’t want to get into trouble but I really needed to go,” he rambled, eyes darting down each end of the hallway. He almost looked like he was waiting for somebody to spring out of the shadows and attack him.

Aerrow waved her hands to get his attention. Junko quieted down once he noticed, rambling fading away to focus on her. “Get to the point, Junko, please. You needed to pee, no one was there to lead you. So you went looking on your own?” she guessed. He nodded rapidly. “So what freaked you out?”

“Cyclonians!” he burst out. Like a switch was flipped, everybody else was immediately on alert, eyes all focused on the Wallop. “I got lost and ended up smelling something really good, so I followed the smell, thinking that it was someone from the staff cooking in the kitchen and that I could ask them about the bathroom. But it wasn’t one of the cooks that was in there!

“Aerrow, there were at least five Cyclonians in that kitchen! And they didn’t look like they had just snuck in there - they knew where everything was, they were joking with each other, they didn’t even turn to look at me when I came in, just assumed it was their buddy coming back because they had asked me what took me so long!”

He took a deep breath, voice quieting down now that he had everything out of his system.

“Aerrow, the guests that are here - they’re Cyclonians!”

Aerrow stared at Junko for a few heartbeats of time, brain trying to reboot with the new information that just became available to it.

“Well, I guess it’s good to know that I’m not being paranoid.”

Piper gave her a flat look. “Really, that’s all that you’re going to say.”

Aerrow flushed. “No!” she denied. “I’m just making a point of the fact that I was right!”

Piper still didn’t look amused.

“Okay, okay! You’re not impressed, noted, geeze.” She looked up and down the hallway, then moved out of the doorway to usher the others in. Once they were, she set about gathering a pair of clothes and her weapons. She narrated her thoughts as she did. “Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do. First of all, we’re all going to get dressed. We’re going to pack our bags with the stuff that we need - only the stuff that we need. If it can be replaced at Terra Neon, don’t worry about it. The Cyclonians have to know by now that it wasn’t their friend or one of the Guardians or their staff who saw them in the kitchen - they wouldn’t have run away.”

She tore through the room as she talked, grabbing her bag and shoving whatever she could get her hands on into it. She paused briefly at the picture of her parents, then crammed that in, too. Once finished, she threw the bag at Finn, who let out an oof as he caught it.

“Stork, Finn, Junko - you three need to get to our rides and get to the Condor. The six of us can’t take on an entire castle’s worth of people and hope to win. The only way we’re getting out of this is if we get more fire power and some back up.

“Piper, Radarr, and I are going to confront Harrier. Hopefully that will keep some of them off your backs as you escape. Once we’re done with that, we’ll try to make our way to you. If you don’t see us by sunrise, call the Council and let them know what happened here. Got it?”

The three didn’t look happy about the situation, but they could get in line. Aerrow didn’t like it either, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t the right thing to do.

“If anyone tries to stop you, fight ‘em. I don’t care if they aren’t trained, your priority is to get out of here no matter what.”

She strode back over to her door and yanked it open. No one in the halls, and no alert had been sounded either. A quick motion had the others scurrying from her room to Piper’s, where everyone besides the bluenette stood guard as she packed her things, handing her bag off to Stork once she was done. Then they did the same for Radarr, Finn, Junko, and finally Stork, bags switching hands as needed so that people could pack their belongings.

“Everybody got everything?” Aerrow checked. Heads nodded. “Good. Then we have our plan, Storm Hawks. Move out.”

Junko, Stork, and Finn sprinted off in one direction, quickly disappearing from sight as they rounded a corner, Finn’s crossbolt at the ready.

Arrow, Piper, and Radarr went the opposite direction, Aerrow leading her friends to the door that she had found the night before. There was no guarantee that anything important lay behind that door, but it was a start.

She glanced out one of the windows as she sprinted past it, taking in the full moon and open sky that lay beyond the pane of glass. Hopefully it wouldn’t be the last time she ever got to see it.

Chapter Text

Radarr darted ahead of her, throwing himself at the face of the Cylonian guard that had just walked out from a room into the hallway. He let out a shriek of surprise and fell to the ground, arms waving around wildly in an attempt to get the blue creature off his face.

Radarr was already gone, though, his attack over as soon as it started. It left Aerrow with an opening to kick the Cyclonian in the head as she passed. She took it with no hesitation - her boot met the man’s skull with a satisfying thunk, knocking him unconscious with prejudice.

One down, however many more to go, Aerrow thought as she called out “left!” to her teammates.

Piper gave her a suspicious look even as she followed her directions. “Is there a reason why you have a specific destination in mind? And know the directions to get to it?”

Aerrow refused to meet her eyes. “No,” she lied. “Oh look, another Cyclonian!” Aerrow sped past the other girl to meet the pair of guards charging at them, staves held out in front of them to attack.

Her blade met the first guard’s staff and pushed it up and to the left, allowing her to duck into his space. A knee to his stomach forced him to hunch over, a pained wheeze escaping his mouth, as her right hand landed on his neck, forcing him to stay bent over.

The clang of metal on metal brought her attention briefly over to her vulnerable side, where Piper’s familiar, scuffed staff blocked the other Cyclonian’s weapon from smacking into her unprotected back. Quick as a flash, Aerrow’s leg came up and then shot back, connecting with the woman’s knee directly behind her and forcing it out from under her, leaving her to crumble, unsupported.

Then her attention was back onto the man in front of her, starting to recover from her first blow. She didn’t give him the chance - her left hand came up over his back and then down with as much force as she could muster, driving the hilt of her dagger into his back once, twice, a third time, at which point she used her right hand to pull him further off balance to make him fall onto the ground, face first.

She followed him down, kneeling on his form so that he couldn’t rise. Her dagger swapped hands quickly, allowing her to bring it down on him one more time with her dominant hand, this time to the back of his head, knocking it firmly enough into the floor under him that she heard the crunch of his nose breaking.

Aerrow regarded him for another second, just to make sure, but he didn’t make any move to get up, so hopefully he was actually unconscious and not just faking it.

A quick glance at Piper showed that her guard was also out of commission, the woman slumped against the wall, staff out of reach by a few inches and head lolled down.

Adversaries taken care of, the three continued to move forward. Logically, Aerrow knew they were making progress towards the guarded door she saw last night, but it was slow going, Cyclonians and the occasional Rex Guardian popping up in their path what felt like every three steps.

“You know,” she grunted to her friends, “I really feel like this is overkill.”

Her foot connected with another assailant’s chest, knocking him into Piper’s swing of her staff, pushing him face-first into a wall with a solid thunk.

They took off again.

“What do you mean?” the bluenette questioned, taking a sharp right once they reached the end of the hallway.

They continued on, past an ornate wood door, a porcelain vase sitting on a small, decorative table, and a painting of Honia from what looked to be when it was first established, depicted with small buildings and a not-so-well-worn road.

Aerrow screeched to a halt, Piper almost colliding with her from her sudden lack of movement. Radarr, not so lucky, hit the back of her right leg and let out a grumpy sound.

“Back there,” she said, doing an about face and hurrying back to the wood door. Piper, bemused, followed after her; Radarr brought up the rear.

“This is it,” Aerrow breathed, hand reaching to try the doorknob. No dice - it was locked. She rolled her eyes. “Why can’t people ever just make things easy?” she complained under her breath.

She took a couple steps back, lined herself up, then brought her leg up and into the wooden door, grinning in triumph when the lock gave way and the door swung open.

Piper followed her in, making sure to close the door again after Radarr scampered in last. 

Aerrow knew it wouldn’t lock again, obviously, but she applauded Piper’s diligence in at least trying to make it look like they hadn’t broken into the room. Hopefully anyone looking for them would go past it, assuming that the Storm Hawks wouldn’t be able to get in without a key.

Aerrow moved farther into the room, taking a quick look around. An office of some sort, but not the kind with a desk; instead, a table sat in the middle of the room, with two chairs placed on both sides of it, set up so that each pair was facing each other. Everything was made from a light, polished wood, contrasting against the dark rug that covered the floor and helping to make the room seem less dreary.

Along the back wall sat a credenza, paper piled neatly atop it. Aerrow made a triumphant sound, scurrying over to snoop; the other two followed after her..

“Hello, terra to Aerrow?” Piper drawled even as she moved forward to start reading the content of the papers herself.

“Hmm?” Aerrow returned. A tax form. Not what she was looking for. She tossed it onto the ground behind her. “What’s up, Piper?”

 “What seems like overkill?”

Still not it. Aerrow shoved the stack of papers off the credenza. 

It took a moment for the other girl’s question to register, but once it did, she turned to look at her two friends - Piper at the other end of the credenza, fingers moving fast as they leafed through everything they touched, Radarr inspecting what was on the table, examining what was left on its surface, items which seemed to range from pens to food to scrap papers with scribbled notes on them.

“Oh, the amount of guards that are here.” She returned her attention to the task at hand. Purchase order, no. A map of Atmos, no - wait. Those aren’t what the territory lines look like. She put it aside and kept looking. “Okay, so the VIP guest that everyone has tried to keep hush-hush is Cyclonian, cool, one mystery solved. But why so many guards for one person?”

“Because they’re in enemy territory,” Piper reasoned, adding another item to her own stack of evidence.

“Sure, a Cyclonian would want guards with them, but still - why so many?” she stressed. A trade agreement - into her pile. “We fought, what, thirty people on the way here? With only a handful of them being the Rex Guardians in their own home base?”

“Because they don’t know how to fight?” the bluenette hedged. Her lips pursed ever-so-slightly, as if she didn’t believe her words even as she said them.

“Okay, but there’s still too many of them. If you can’t fight, sure you’ll want someone to protect you - but this many people? That’s a terrible idea, you’d draw way too much attention to yourself. Supposedly, there are enough people here with skimmers between them to fill all the spaces in the main Rex Guardian garage.”

Aerrow glanced up to Piper, watching as light dawned in her eyes. “Which means that this can’t be any ordinary Cyclonian,” she realized.

“Right,” Aerrow agreed. She looked back down. Come on, come on, there has to be something here that I can use. She yanked one of the credenza drawers open, but it contained only stationery. The drawer below held only empty files. The third drawer down, though, proved to be promising, full of thick folders stuffed to the brim with loose leaf pages.

“So this is someone high enough in the Cyclonian empire to need a lot of guards, or maybe even other attendants,” Piper mused out loud. Then she huffed. “But that doesn’t make sense - who would come to Terra Rex with this many people? And more than that, what Cyclonian that high up in the ranks wouldn’t know how to defend themselves? It can’t be an officer, they wouldn’t need this many guards. A higher aristocrat? No, they would know better than to bring this many people with them - smaller is better when doing something discreetly. One of the lower aristocrats?”

Aerrow paused her searching for a moment, trying to remember what she could from her lessons on Cyclonian politics - outdated as they were, considering the only information the Sky Knights had access to was dated from before the war or small tidbits their spies could send back.

Provided that she was remembering everything correctly, Aerrow supposed the VIP guest could be a lower aristocrat. Gaining their name not from where they sat in Cyclonia’s social hierarchy, as they were actually fairly high up, the “lower” part of the title came from how long a family had been in possession of a large sum of money. If they were nouveau riche, no matter how much money they had, a family would only move into the higher aristocracy once they maintained their fortune for at least three generations.

It made a certain amount of sense; they would be used to having attendants, probably wouldn’t know how to fight, and were possibly too dumb to realize that they should have brought less people, under the impression that they’d need to make a display to seem as important as possible, lacking the quiet confidence of the higher aristocrats who let their reputations do the talking.

She paused, hands stilling, and pushed the thought to the side.

Aerrow let a small smirk pull up the corner of her mouth even as she whirled to face Piper and Radarr triumphantly. “Possible,” she agreed, “but why guess when you can know for certain?” She waved the document in her grasp. “Care to see who’s negotiating a treaty, anyone?”

The other two perked up, abandoning their search to come stand closer to the Sky Knight.

“Okay, let’s see here,” Aerrow muttered. She skimmed her eyes over the document, skipping over the terms of the agreement and all the legal jargon that made it up, focusing on trying to find the wording that indicated who was making the treaty, rather than what was being gained from it.

She paled considerably once she found it. “We have a problem,” she breathed, heart starting to beat a little faster in her chest. “It’s not some lower aristocrat signing this, you guys, it’s-”

Radarr’s ears swiveled sharply. Aerrow and Piper both quieted at once, tracking the blue appendages as they twitched. She hardly dared to breathe too loudly, less she missed what had captured her friend’s attention. Then - 

Footsteps, marching down the hall a few corridors away.

Thump, thump, thump. The sound of at least four people walking down a stone hallway.

Shit, they’re getting closer, Aerrow realized.

“New plan,” she whispered, motioning for Radarr to come closer. She turned him around once he was in reach, pulling open his backpack flap so that she could stuff the evidence in her hands into it, followed by her small stack sitting off to the side on top of the credenza. “We need to go. Now. Piper, do you have a map of Terra Rex?” Piper nodded. “Great, we’re going to need it. We can’t stay here any longer.”

That done, she motioned for Piper to pass her own stack of paper over. The bluenette did, replying, “Aerrow, there’s no way out besides that door - and I don’t think our chances will be that great on the other side of it.”

Aerrow closed the top of the backpack and secured it with its buckle, tugging to make sure it wouldn’t move.

All the while, the footsteps came closer, fell louder. 

Thump, thump, thump.

Aerrow cast her gaze on the window sitting on the wall behind the credenza. Wide and tall, it looked over the back of the Rex Guardian grounds. 

Not as big as she would have liked, but it would have to do. “We’ll just have to make our own.”

Piper and Radarr followed her gaze, then blanched. Radarr put his arms up over his chest in an x-shape, shaking his head almost desperately back and forth.

She patted him on the head. “Sorry buddy, but we need to go. I’ll blow the window out, you’ll hang on to me, and then I’ll try to glide us down. We’re only on the second floor. It’ll hurt, but it’s better than the alternative.”

Piper gave a small groan of despair. “This is such a bad idea,” she breathed, “but fine, whatever. Where to from there?”

Aerrow took a quick peek out the window, trying to see where everything lay on the ground below and very deliberately not thinking about how high up they were, second floor only be damned. 

The garage they had parked their skimmers in had been busted open, most likely courtesy of Junko, with Talons (because that’s what they were, not just random guards hired by a lower aristocrat, actual Talons) swarming around it, acting as a deterrent for the other Storm Hawks to try getting to their rides.

Their only saving grace was that Aerrow had no plans on going back to get her skimmer, at least not yet. Instead, she turned her gaze the opposite way, to the side less occupied by guards. They’d have to clear a couple of people out of their way, but that should be an easy task.

“Later,” Aerrow said in response. “For now, aim left. Ready?” Not giving her friend a chance to answer, the redhead backed up a couple of feet, already reaching down into herself for the power that simmered under her skin.

A quick leap and twist later, a large blue bolt of energy connected with the glass of the windows, blowing it clear out of its frame and leaving a gaping hole in the wall.

The footsteps, having paused at the loud crash, started to pick up speed. She would guess they were only just down the hall, now, before the turn that led to the door they had broken open. Talons outside were also turning to see the cause for the broken glass, heads swiveling as they tried to figure out which window was broken and why.

“Time to go!” she whisper-yelled, climbing up on the credenza. They needed to leave before the Talons outside could get any closer. The Storm Hawks were good fighters, but numbers did have an advantage after a certain point.

She brought her arms up and back, hooking her cuffs against her glider to pull it open.

Radarr jumped up after her, perching his back feet on her shoulders and his hands on her head, while Piper climbed up and then wrapped her arms around Aerrow’s middle, clinging tightly.

“You sure this is a good idea?” she asked, voice slightly hysteric.

“Not at all!” Aerrow responded brightly, turning her face slightly to give the other girl a bright grin. “Too late now though!”

Piper’s and Radarr’s eyes went wide.

Aerrow jumped.

So, the problem with gliders was this: they were designed with high altitude flight in mind, as well as only being strong enough to carry one person (maybe two for a short distance in a pinch) at a time. 

The Storm Hawks didn’t glide to the ground gracefully, making a smooth landing on their feet that they could immediately start running from, so much as have a semi-controlled fall out of the second floor window onto the hard ground below, the glider just barely slowing their descent. They landed hard enough to jar them loose from their awkward hug, all of them sent sprawling with grunts of pain but thankfully no permanent damage done.

Clutching her head from where it made contact with Piper’s elbow, Aerrow staggered upright, pulling her arms back in to disengage the glider. Her two friends weren’t far behind, both looking rumpled and unimpressed with her decision.

“You. Suck,” Piper seethed. Hands came up to pat herself down, brushing off invisible dust.

Radarr settled for giving her a simple but effective stink eye.

Aerrow looked behind Piper, saw all the Talons rushing their way, and held up a finger to stop the rant she could feel coming. “Hold that thought. Run away first, lecture later.”

Piper looked over her own shoulder. “You know what,” she said, turning back around, eyes wide, “great idea.”

The three of them took off, aiming left for the edge of the forest that surrounded the whole castle. Anyone who tried to stop them from reaching their goal was swiftly and forcefully knocked aside, hardly slowing them as they plunged into the dense cluster of trees. 

The terrain under their feet changed from pristine lawn to uneven soil, tree roots sticking out of the dirt at random intervals, trying to trip them as they flew past, branches reaching out to snag on cloth and hair and skin and fur, grasping at what they could to slow their flight away from the castle as the Storm hawks fought to put as much distance between them and their pursuers as possible.

(plant overgrowth covering most of the trail on either side)

Knowing that their conversation would be relatively private out here in the forest, with the Talons following after them not in hearing distance, at least not yet, Aerrow finally turned to the other girl racing beside her.

“Which direction to the nearest place that has a radio - somewhere that isn’t the main city?” she asked. Her hand touched down briefly on the fallen log in her path, allowing her to use the moment of contact to vault herself over it.

“Should be to the west,” Piper answered. She ducked under a low-hanging branch. “It’s a small town that serves as a sort of hub for all the rural areas. There’s an inn there that people use when they’re traveling, so theoretically they should have a radio that we can use.”

“How far away?” was Aerrow’s next question.

“On foot? An hour, if we push it, an hour and a half if not,” Piper responded promptly.

“Is this the right direction?”

Piper hesitated, then shook her head, pointing a little more to her left. “That way.”

Without a word, Aerrow changed course, veering in the direction indicated, the other two following after her.

“Great. So the new plan is this: we find that inn, use the radio to contact the others. If they don’t answer, we try to contact the Council ourselves. After that, we better pray to Saya we can find some skimmers. We need to get off this terra.”

A moment of silence passed between all three of them.

“Is it really that bad?” Piper asked, voice quiet enough that Aerrow could barely hear it.

An image of the signature on the treaty flashed through her mind’s eye, all sloped lines and neat loops. Something so foreboding didn’t have the right to look so pretty, so effortlessly graceful.

Her lips pressed down into a flat line, eyes kept firmly on the ground in front of her. 

The trees loomed over them (lush green rushed past her), blacking out what little light from the stars there was and casting a sinister shadow over their surroundings. Fitting, for what she had just discovered, and yet not nearly as dark as she felt it should be considering the gravity of the situation.

“Honestly, Piper,” she said, “I think that it’s even worse.”

They descended back into silence, the only sounds between them the rustling of the foliage displaced by their footfalls and arms, their controlled breathing, and the noise of their pursuers becoming fainter and fainter.

(bird calls echoed through the brush unevenly, changing their pitch mid sound just to cut out before they even finished)

Aerrow pushed on, the pressure pushing down on her shoulders an almost physical weight.

We have to get off this terra, she thought again.

Fortunately, they seemed to have lost the Talons chasing them by the ten minute mark. What had started as sounds loud enough to make Aerrow constantly check over her shoulder gradually became softer, more muted, as the distance between the teenagers and their enemies became bigger and bigger, until the noises of their pursuers finally tapered out completely, leaving only the sounds of nature to encompass them as they moved swiftly through the forest.

Aerrow was glad to remove that from her list of things she needed to worry about.

Unfortunately, there was also a downside the farther they journeyed away from the castle. Their pace, which had started off as a blistering sprint, had been reduced to a brisk walking speed with spaced intervals of light jogging.

Aerrow logically knew that they wouldn’t have been physically able to keep up a sprint for their entire trek, but it was frustrating her to be confronted by her body’s limits when time was of the essence. While her mind urged her to keep moving as quickly as possible, pressing on her the urgency of the situation, her body rebelled. She wasn’t panting just yet, but her heart was beating hard to keep her blood pumping and her breathing was coming out in small huffs and puffs from her nose.

Piper and Radarr, from the sounds of it, weren’t doing much better either.

Then, to top it off, the Talons, while no longer close enough to be heard on foot, still hadn’t given up the search for Aerrow and her friends - merely changed tactics on how they scoured the trees. There had been a handful of times that Aerrow had needed to throw herself behind a tree, or into a bush, or down behind a large rock, all because the Talons had decided to get creative.

Why can’t they just give up? she grumbled in her mind, ignoring the fact that she knew very well why they wouldn’t. What happened to all the Talons who quit once they were even slightly inconvenienced? Why do we have to have the persistent ones following us?

Her eyes caught Radarr’s ears perking up.

Speaking of, she thought.

“Hide!” she ordered the others, body moving even as she gave the command. Two quick steps to her right brought her underneath a thick tree branch, a large canopy of dark leaves growing even higher up over it.

She planted her left foot onto the tree trunk and pushed up and off against it, lifting her body into the air so that her hands could make solid contact with the branch above her. A grunt of effort left her mouth as she pulled herself up, swinging her leg so that she could sit on the branch and scoot herself back, closer to the trunk of the tree. It offered a little more coverage in terms of hiding, the leaves of its canopy clustered tighter together the closer to the center of the tree they became.

Spot secured, Aerrow turned her attention to the other two. Piper had tucked herself low to the ground, mostly under a small gathering of bushes that lay close to the soil, allowing her a small space to wiggle into that was mostly covered by their shadows. 

Radarr, on the other hand, opted for wiggling his way into a fallen log covered in moss. All she could see of him was his eyes peeking out of the darkness.

Not a moment too soon, either. The hum that reverberated constantly at the back of her mind, growing louder for the past little while, became a roar of noise.

Bright light flooded the area of the trail they had just been walking, sweeping back and forth along the path. Aerrow held as still as possible, pressing her back into the tree bark behind it like she actually had a chance of merging into it to camouflage herself completely.

The spotlight lingered for a second. 

Two. 

Did another sweep. 

Finally left.

Aerrow waited until the sounds of the Heliscooter’s blades faded out again before emerging from her waiting spot. Her muscles stayed tense the entire time.

Piper and Radarr joined her, following her gaze as she stared after where the Talon scout had flown off, searchlight strapped to their ride still moving back and forth over the vegetation below it.

Aerrow shook her head, motioned for the other two to keep moving. “I don’t like this,” she muttered. Her arm came up to push aside an overhanging branch that threatened to make her taste leaves if she dared walk towards it.

“You’ve noticed it too?” Piper asked. She wiped a bead of sweat up with the back of her glove, leaving a small streak of dirt in her wake.

Radarr made an inquisitive sound, looking up at the two of them with his head tilted slightly to the side.

“The patrols searching for us,”Aerrow explained. “The Heliscooter keeps coming back to where we are at shorter and shorter intervals. It's like-”

A snap sounded out in the darkness. The Storm Hawks froze. Past the sound of her heartbeat in her ears, Aerrow tried to hear anything else that wasn't the wildlife in the forest or the slight breeze rustling through the foliage.

She heard nothing unusual.

“You hear anything, Radarr?”

The blue creature perked his ears this way and that, searching, Aerrow knew, for the faintest sound that would pass by undetected to human ears but be picked up by his own.

Finally, he shook his head in the negative.

Still, Aerrow didn't relax even as they started moving again, picking up the pace for a couple of minutes of straight jogging, wanting to put as much distance behind them as they could before they would be forced to hide as the Heliscooter passed by again. It kept passing into and out of hearing range, growing closer and then moving farther as it searched the forest for them.

But there was something else, too, that kept her on edge.

Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she kept thinking that she was hearing… something (something that wasn’t the Heliscooter overhead), even if she wasn't sure what it may be. Rustling off the path, flanking them every step of the way. Shadows flickering in her peripherals - but whenever she would turn her head to take a look over her shoulder, all she could see was the dark cluster of vegetation crowding around them. Goosebumps kept breaking out across her arms.

She felt watched, and she didn’t think it had anything to do with the wild animals in the forest.

Before long, they needed to slow it down again, long strides with quick steps giving way to a less punishing pace. Sweat was dripping down her forehead; she grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it, using the hem to wipe away the perspiration.

Poor Radarr was basically panting he was so overheated, and Piper was clutching at her side as if she was injured.

“Just a stitch,” she waved off when she saw Aerrow looking.

Aerrow hesitated before asking, “Do you need to sit down and take a minute?” It wasn’t something that she wanted to do, not when she was still feeling like the walls were closing in on them, but if her friend needed a rest so that she could keep going, Aerrow wouldn’t begrudge her for it. The path they were taking wasn’t exactly a leisurely stroll.

About twenty minutes after they had dashed into the forest, they had finally given up weed whacking in favour of one of the more established hiking routes mapped out by the castle’s residents. It helped immensely in conserving energy, them not needing to fight the vegetation for any foot of ground gained, but this still wasn’t a stroll in the garden. The ground was uneven, not a friend for wanting to travel quickly without stepping wrong and possibly causing an injury; there were also still obstacles that needed to be navigated over or around, including fallen logs, twisting roots, or spider webs that were strung between trees. 

It was easier than trying to forge their own path, yes, but a hiking path was still a hiking path and they had been moving for almost two thirds of an hour, now.

Piper took in a large breath, let it out slowly, repeated the process a few more times. “No,” she decided. “I think I just need something to distract me from it.”

“Hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Aerrow huffed out, copying the tactics specialist and trying to even out her breathing, “but I don’t think holding a conversation is going to help us out here, Piper.”

Radarr chirruped in agreement.

A dark hand shot out, whacking her on the arm with a sharp sting.

Aerrow yelped and grabbed the spot that the other girl had just struck. “Um, ow?” she said, somewhat bewildered by the sudden attack.

“Don’t be a smartass,” Piper said flatly, giving her the side eye. “Just - talk to me for a minute so I can focus on something else besides how badly my side is cramping.”

Radarr, very unsubtly, slid further out of the bluenette’s reach, making the “she’s crazy” gesture while he came to walk beside Aerrow.

Aerrow agreed. That smack hurt, especially because she wasn’t trying to be a smartass to begin with… although she could see how Piper could have taken it that way.

Whatever, moving on.

“What do you want to talk about?” Aerrow questioned.

Tan fingers clenched down hard on the side they were holding, knuckles becoming almost white with how hard they were gripping. White teeth bit down on a bottom lip, worrying at it before letting go so that lips could part and sound could spill out. “Who was it that signed that treaty?” Amber eyes found her form, watching her with obvious worry before flitting away. “You went really pale back there, Aerrow. How bad is the situation, really?”

Aerrow didn’t answer her right away. Her eyes floated upwards, focusing on the strip of the night sky she could see before it was blocked off by the top of the trees on either side of the path they walked along.

The moon wasn’t visible from this angle, but the sky was beautiful nonetheless. A gorgeous colour, dark, dark navy with a hint of a purple undertone, all while the stars sparkled bright, keeping them company while they walked.

If things were different, Aerrow wouldn’t have minded being out here in the middle of the night, taking a stroll through this unfamiliar forest. She would have taken a blanket with her, tried to find a small clearing where she could lay it out and then fall back on it, watching the night sky and marveling at its beauty.

Apart from where they grew up on Terra Neverlandis, the Storm Hawks never stayed in one spot long enough to ever have parts of the sky that became familiar like the backs of their hands, that felt like home.

She had seen all manner of sunrises and sunsets and meteor showers, but still, no matter where she went or how often she saw it, the sky was always a sight that would take her breath away. This night, no matter the circumstances, was no exception.

It was such a shame to waste a night like this.

“I won’t lie to you, Piper,” she said, finally turning her attention back to her companions, who had remained silent while she contemplated what lay above. “Things really aren’t looking good for us.”

A gruff chuckle floated out of the darkness.

Aerrow stopped in her tracks, the other two falling in beside her. Radarr started up a low growl, upper lips pulling back from his sharp teeth, while she and Piper readied their respective weapons. 

It only took a moment to activate the crystals in her daggers, lighting the trail with a blue glow; to her left, Piper popped her own light blue crystal, fished from the small pouch resting on the side of her hip, into the end of her staff. The little claws hooked onto the crystal’s sides, anchoring it in place. A quick, neat twirl later and the bluenette’s weapon was brought into a defensive position. The light blue glow of her crystal joined Aerrow’s darker blue, the two colours distinct on the ground the closer they were to their origins but becoming harder to distinguish the farther away the light travelled.

Up ahead on the path, the foliage was parted to the side by a long arm, allowing a dark form to emerge from off the beaten trail just at the end of where the glow stopped. For a moment, all Aerrow could see was shadows - then the figure stepped into the light, sauntering forward, seemingly unphased at being on the recipient end of two weapons and sharp teeth.

Radarr’s growl lessened in shock, tapering off into an unsure whine and then becoming silent.

It was a man, wearing armor on his shins, chest, and shoulders, a sword on his hip, and a crown-like headpiece over black hair. The Cyclonian insignia was displayed proudly on his armor; the only person, Aerrow thought, willing to wear the mark of the enemy in a place where it so clearly didn’t belong without fear of retribution.

Then again, Aerrow considered, eyes meeting Dark Ace's, with what’s been happening over the past few days, maybe the Cyclonians do belong here now. The Rex Guardians are certainly allowing them into their territory with open arms and not the weapons to the face that they deserve.

“Normally I would rather take a sword to the stomach then agree with a Sky Knight, but would you look at that? For once, I was thinking the same thing,” Dark Ace greeted. “Things really aren't looking good for you.” His eyes flickered over them, searching - but for what? “I will also admit, rather reluctantly, that you surprised us, traveling in this direction. We were under the impression you would head to the city, considering it's closer, there are more hiding places, and your precious Condor is there - and that's without even mentioning that your friends went that way, so logic dictates you would want to join them to regroup.”

Aerrow gave a faux modest shrug. “Well, occasionally an idea that's good pops into my head. Should I be giving myself a pat on the back for managing to fool you?” She paused, licked her lips nervously, then tested the waters. “On the other hand, maybe that's too soon. You did manage to find us, after all.”

Here, he smirked, a smug little look indicating how much pleasure he derived from knowing something they didn't.

With no short retort or scathing comment thrown at her, Aerrow decided to try pushing her luck. “Don't suppose you want to let us know how you found us?”

Dark Ace crossed his arms over his chest, stance shifting as he put more weight on one foot. Aerrow made sure to clock it; if he thought they wouldn't fight him and wanted to put himself at a disadvantage from the start, she would take advantage of it without a shred of remorse.

His eyes flitted over them all again. “I could,” he drawled slowly. “But then again, that would be telling, wouldn't it? So I think I'll settle on saying this: if you take something that doesn't belong to you, you should make sure that the owners can't track it.”

Aerrow's thoughts started to race. He knew they took something, which, duh - they hadn't exactly left the meeting room undisturbed in their frantic search for damning evidence. So then the question was this: what was placed, presumably, under the effect of a tracking crystal (since that was the best way to make sure stolen goods didn't remain stolen for long)?

She thought back, trying to remember all that she took - before it hit her. Out of all those pieces of paper, what was the most valuable to both negotiators of the treaty? Maps could be redrawn, reports re-written. What would take the longest to replicate? That would have to be the treaty itself, which would go through multiple drafts before being accepted and signed, fine-tuned each iteration through careful comb-overs done over multiple hours and multiple days. It was, by far, the one piece that they took that had the most effort put into it - as well as concretely identifying who was taking part in the negotiations.

Smart of them, Aerrow conceded. She hadn’t even thought about the possibility that the Cyclonians would have insurance to find the paper if it ended up missing.

Very, very carefully, she made sure not to look down at Radarr. If Dark Ace couldn’t tell which of them had the paper at a glance - maybe his tracking crystal was a lower-grade one, only able to give a general location instead of a specific one, like the higher-graded crystals? - then she wanted no part in making it easier for him to identify which one of them carried the signed document.

She inched one of her feet backwards. Instantly, the man’s eyes were drawn to it; they snapped back up to her face just as quickly.

“I wouldn’t try that, if I were you,” he warned, voice just slightly coloured with wry amusement.

“Try what?” Aerrow bluffed. “I’m not doing anything.” Widening her eyes, Aerrow schooled her expression as best as possible to “innocent” and “butter wouldn't melt in her mouth”.

“So you’re not trying to very carefully move back to create more distance between us?” Dark Ace wasn't buying it.

“Of course not. That sounds like a silly thing to do.”

Long arms uncrossed and fingers clad in dark gloves casually rested against a sword pommel.

Immediately, the Aerrowl tensed - or, well, tensed even more, as she hadn't exactly relaxed at any point after Dark Ace joined them on the path. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Radarr and Piper do the same. Radarr even went as far as starting up a low growl again, lowering himself further to the ground, while Piper inched a smaller bit closer to the taller girl.

Whereas just a moment before his face had conveyed hidden amusement, there was now nothing of the sort. Lips pressed together in a hard line and eyebrows furrowed over a flinty stare, Dark Ace drew his sword and activated the crystal.

Red mingled with blue, plunging the path into a cool-toned purple. The red accents on Dark Ace's uniform, previously a dark grey that blended with the black of his uniform under the blue light, brightened, standing out starkly in the night. His eyes, already normally intense from how pigmented they were, seemed to glow in the new lighting.

“As cliche as this is, I will give you one chance to hand over the treaty,” Dark Ace told them. His tone was flat, hard, unyielding. It was the tone of a man who expected no arguments from the ones on the receiving end of it. It was the tone of man who was used to being obeyed. It was the tone of a man who said his words as a command, for all that it was actually a statement.

Unfortunately for him, Aerrow wasn’t one of his Talons or someone who feared him. His problem, she mused, was that he was used to people doing as he said; he wielded his authority as a weapon or tool, depending on the situation. Others, fearing him because of his reputation, most likely followed his orders without question.

Back on Neverlandis, though, Arygyn had specifically trained her (all of them, really) to never be cowed by anyone or anything, no matter who they were or what tone of voice they used.

(He had been correcting her posture at the time, Aerrow recalled, telling her to curl tighter into herself so that she was a smaller target, to bring her hands higher up to better protect her head. She had only just started her formal training, young and only about half his height, but he had never looked at her like she could have been anything but great by the time she grew up.

“I’ve been called the Trainer of Heroes for many years now,” Arygyn had commented. He said it not to brag, but as a statement of fact. The sky over Terra Neverlandis was blue, Aerrow’s hair was red, and Arygyn was the greatest trainer of heroes to have ever existed in the Free Atmos.

He retreated a step to eye her posture, giving a nod at what he saw. “Good, now stay in that position, but shift your weight to the balls of your feet. You’ll need to be ready to move at any second, so you won’t want to be flat-footed.”

Aerrow shifted her weight, as instructed; her reward was a smile. They came easily to the man’s face, never one to hide his emotions, but still she preened at his approval.

“Many people have tried to create heroes of the same caliber that I train them to,” he continued. “When you move, step first with your leading foot, then follow with the other.” Arygyn demonstrated. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.” She nodded.

“Good. Then we’ll be putting it to the test. Forward.” Her left foot went forward, her right following behind as he had shown her. “Yes, like that.” His hands clapped together once, twice. “Now, back.” Right first, this time, then left. “Excellent. Left.”

So they continued, Arygyn calling out which stance to shift into and which direction to move while he resumed his lecture. Aerrow didn’t quite understand why he didn’t just wait until she was done with her exercises before he told his stories, but she had never mustered up the courage to ask why he trained her like this - not that he probably would have given her a straight answer anyway, she mused. He always preferred being cryptic over being overt, letting the lessons they learned be from their own mistakes rather than telling them outright why something was a bad idea.

“Experience is often the best teacher,” was what he told her the one time she brought it up. Young as she had been back then, she hadn’t quite understood what he meant but left it alone. Technically, he had given her an answer to her question so she hadn’t wanted to ask for clarification and seem dumb.

“Now, what was I saying? Oh, yes, training heroes.” Arygyn brought one of his fingers up to tap at his lip in thought. “There have been many Sky Knights trained in the Academy that turned out good - or great, even. But none of them have ever turned out to be legendary. Can you guess why?”

Mouth moving before her mind could stop it, Aerrow blurted out, “Because the Academy doesn’t teach its students to think creatively?”

Arygyn reared back slightly, obviously taken aback at how Aerrow parroted the words back at him - it was his favorite thing to complain about when it came to the Academy. Then, he let out a small cackle of delight, hand reaching up to ruffle her hair. “Brat. No, it’s because the Academy still teaches its students to obey authority.”

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Aerrow paused in her movements. She didn’t like to admit when she didn’t understand something that Arygyn said, always afraid of asking the wrong thing and looking dumb, but this seemed like the type of thing that she needed to know; refusing to ask for help would just hinder her own growth, and that was something she refused to do. Arygyn thought that she would be - was currently, even though she was young and untrained - important, so she would repay his regard by making sure to become what he saw when he looked at her, the woman that she could be.

“But don’t you teach us to obey authority?” she asked.

The green-haired man tapped on her fists. Startled, Aerrow brought them back up into their defensive position from where they had fallen when she stopped. He hummed in the back of his throat, a sound to indicate he was thinking about what to say next, rather than ignoring her question.

“Right.” Aerrow moved to obey, and so they restarted. “Not exactly,” Arygyn said, eyes watching her every move sharply. “I would say the difference lies in this: the Academy teaches those who grace its halls to obey authority. I teach you to respect others.”

Aerrow made a face. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

“Not inherently. Let me see, how to phrase this…” he trailed off, lips pursing in thought. After a moment, one of his hands, clenched into a fist, came up and then down onto his other hand, which lay flat with its palm facing up. “Think of it like this. When the academy tells you to obey someone with authority, it’s saying to you that you should listen to this person because, in some way - through status, or title, or experience, something like that - they are your superior. They’re saying, ‘this person is better than you in some way, and because they are better’ - whether it’s true or not - ‘you should listen to them.’”

Here he paused, catching her eye. “Do you understand that so far?”

Aerrow scrunched her face up. “I think?”

Arygyn’s lips quirked up at the corner. “Why don’t you give me an example of how it would work, then?”

Biting her lip in thought, Aerrow said, slowly, placing the pieces of the puzzle she had been given together with each word out of her mouth, “It’s like if Finn and I went to the archery range. I know I’m okay with a bow and arrow, but my aim is nowhere as good as Finn’s. So the Academy would put Finn in charge and then tell me I would have to do as he says - because he’s better than me, so he should be the leader.” Her nose wrinkled. “But that doesn’t make sense!” she complained. “Finn is a terrible leader! If we don’t agree with him when he’s in charge, he tries to banish us to our rooms!”

The trainer of heroes let out a hoot of laughter and gave her a pat on the back. “A good example, Aerrow!” He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “Yes, the Academy works exactly like that. It’s not an inherently wrong way to think, but it does have its flaws - as you pointed out. So, let’s continue this example.” He started to pace back and forth in front of her. Left, right. Left, right. “The Academy has put Finn in charge; this means that they expect you to do what he says, no matter how wrong he might be, because he is in a position of authority. But what about me? What would I expect if I sent you to the archery range, put Finn in charge, and he started - oh, I don’t know - saying you should use Radarr as a target to practice trick shots?”

Aerrow let out a scandalised gasp at the mere suggestion of doing such a thing. “But Radarr is our friend! We shouldn’t be shooting arrows at him! Even if we don’t plan on hitting him, something could go wrong and he might get hurt!”

“Would you tell Finn that it would be wrong to do that to Radarr?”

“Of course!” she exclaimed, slightly indignant that Arygyn might think she would ever allow someone - friend or not - to shoot arrows at Radarr.

“Well then, there’s the difference between the Academy and myself.”  He nodded his head matter-of-factly, as if he had just proven a hypothesis as truth.

That drew Aerrow up short. “Huh?” Not the most elegant of noises, but it was very good at making her confusion known.

Arygyn let out another laugh, this one more of a trilling sound, like the call of a bird. He returned to his original position at her side. “Okay, okay, let me explain just a little more. If I put Finn in charge of you rascals and sent you to the archery range, I would hope you would listen to him if he tried to correct your shooting form - not because I put him in charge, making him the person who holds authority, but because you respect his skill with a bow and arrow. I would hope that you would know that Finn would be trying to help, and that you, as the less-skilled shooter, would at least take his words into consideration. I would never say that you have to obey an order given to you by anyone, especially if it was morally wrong - but I would like to think that you would respect someone with more skill, or experience, enough to listen to what they have to say and take it into consideration when you act.”

Aerrow bit her lower lip in concentration, falling out of her ready stance so that her hand could come up to rub at the back of her neck. “Listening to someone because I respect them, not because they were placed in charge,” she repeated. “Like now?” A gesture to all around them. “You hope that I’ll do as you instruct in my training because you’ve trained lots of people before me, so I should trust you to know what you’re doing and why it needs to be learned a certain way.”

Pride twinkled in Arygyn’s eyes. “Exactly. Just like I would hope that if I told you to skip breakfast, you would ignore me - because you know that eating breakfast, getting those nutrients, is more important for you to be healthy than skipping a meal, even if I was the one to tell you to do it. Does that make sense?”

Slowly, Aerrow nodded. Almost uncertainly at first, but then with more confidence. “Yes, I think it does. Just because someone is older or more skilled than I am doesn’t always mean they know better than me - but it does mean that I should listen before I judge, and to think before I act.”

The older man smiled down at her. “Good.” His voice was warm, enveloping her in a cocoon of his praise. “Now, back into stance one. We’re not done yet with today’s exercises.” She complied. “Bring your fists higher - good. Forward.”

Aerrow advanced. Left foot first, followed by her right.)

With Arygyn's voice in the back of her mind, Aerrow shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet and jutted her jaw up and out.

“No,” she told him. Voice clear and strong and with no hesitation, because she refused to bow down to this man's whims like a scared little girl or one of his spineless recruits.

His eyes narrowed at her slight to his ego. “I'd think again.” His hands flexed where they gripped his sword.

(- a sword through the chest, plunging down with no hesitation at and then through an unprotected back; eyes staring at her vacantly while blood seeped out into a puddle around a still body; life that was vibrant just a moment before gone in the blink of an eye -)

“Fuck. No,” she repeated, emphasizing each word to drive it home.

Radarr let out a loud snarl of agreement.

“Wrong choice,” the man across from them growled through clenched teeth.

Piper huffed. It always amazed Aerrow how much contempt the bluenette could pack into such a short sound.

“Right choice,” Piper disagreed. She nodded to her two friends beside her. “As far as I can see, there's three of us and only one of you.” Aerrow could tell she was emboldened by the odds being in the Storm Hawks’ favour; she kept her back straight and met their enemy's eyes with her own, refusing to break or cower.

Dark Ace raised an eyebrow, unimpressed and unintimidated by the bluenette's words and posture. His teeth unclenched, allowing Aerrow a glimpse of his tongue along his teeth before his mouth was closing again, jaw working as he kept from grinding his teeth together again.

“Three against one,” he repeated, voice soft, almost thoughtful.

Aerrow was immediately on guard. He said those words like he didn't believe them to be true, nevermind that there were currently three Storm Hawks on this forest path and only one Cyclonian.

Which means, Aerrow deduced, he should have backup around here and we haven't noticed them. Shit! Where are they?

Her eyes set to frantically searching the path and its shadows, aided by the bright glow of three activated weapons. But she couldn't see anything - no silhouettes in the vegetation, no people stepping out onto the path, no surprise attacks from enemies dropping out of the trees.

There was nobody else here that she could see or sense.

She turned her attention back to Dark Ace. Where were his eyes being directed? Could she follow his gaze, see if he was looking to where his reinforcements might be hiding? No, that didn't work. His eyes weren't looking anywhere around them; they were focused on the narrow sliver of night sky exposed to them. Then he brought them down, giving the three Storm Hawks his attention again -

But no longer aiming his sword at them. It was pointed straight up, towards the sky.

Her eyes went wide with realization.

“Stop him!” she barked out, feet already moving to launch herself at Dark Ace.

Radarr let out a noise of concern as she darted away from him and Piper, closing the gap between her and Dark Ace as quickly as possible. Logically, she knew it wouldn’t matter; the man was too far away, there would be no way to get to him in time before he was able to complete what he wanted to do - but she had to try because if she didn’t -

A bright blue energy blast shot past her, aimed directly at Dark Ace’s chest.

Piper! Aerrow thought, hope starting to soar in her chest. If that hits him, no matter what it does, it’ll give me a chance!

She pushed herself to move faster, practically flying across the ground between her and the Cyclonian, heart in her throat and beating wildly at the chance of being able to end this before it started -

Only for her hope to fall just as quickly as it had soared, shattering around her feet in pieces as the man dodged the blast from Piper’s crystal almost at the last second, leading it to continue down the path until it fizzled out, energy dissipating without anything to hit.

“Nice try,” Dark Ace taunted.

The crystal at the end of his sword sent out a pulse of energy. Everything around Aerrow seemed to blur and slow as she watched it unfold.

It started at the base of his blade, its red light growing in intensity and starting to hum with power. Then the glow spread, creeping up his blade until the entirety of it was almost too bright to look at. Finally, it ended at its point - with no other place to go but out, the energy gathered along the blade shot out of its point, straight up into the night sky. A streak of colour trailed after it, allowing it to be clearly visible from any direction.

Time sped back up.

Sparks flew as Dark Ace brought his sword around to catch her overhead strike. Aerrow strained against him, paying no mind to the energy of the blades pressed so close to her face.

“Try again next time,” he taunted. A change in opposing force sent her stumbling to the side; she threw herself into it, turning her stumble into a controlled roll to avoid the next slash of his sword.

Back on her feet, she lunged at him again. His sword clashed against both of her daggers, locking them into position once more.

“You need to go!” she shouted behind her. Disengaged, swiped with her right dagger; it was knocked aside. “He just let at least that Talon Heliscooter know where we are, and I’m betting that isn’t the only skimmer they have searching for us!” A jump over the leg sweep he tried to swipe her with; a kick of her own sent in retaliation - missed.

“But Aerrow!” Piper protested, Radarr letting out a whine of distress in concert.

“That’s an order!” she snapped. “You need to leave - now!”

“Oh, they won’t be going far,” Dark Ace purred at her, eyes glinting.

“Fuck off!” she snarled back. A quick backwards handspring brought her out of his reach for a chance to regroup before she closed the distance she had just created, drawing his attention towards her again.

“I believe I told you not to speak to me like that when we met at Terra Atmosia,” Dark Ace replied; he grunted at the force of her next swipe. “I’ll guess I’ll just need to remind you who your superior is.”

“No need - I know he’s not here,” Aerrow retorted.

Her reward was a swipe that missed anything important but nicked her arm, leaving a shallow cut behind. She hissed in pain.

A footstep sounded out behind her - but not in the right direction.

“Leave!” she ordered again, refusing to take her eyes off the man in front of her to look at her teammates. 

Even if she didn’t win this battle, even if she was captured or killed, she could do this one thing for her friends - give them a chance to run, to hide, to make it to that small hotel so that they could radio for help, let someone, anyone, know what was happening on Terra Rex.

Piper must have known it, too, because she didn’t try to argue any more with her. Instead, Aerrow heard Radarr let out a heart-wrenching noise, followed by the sound of someone crashing through trees - Piper had probably grabbed him and bolted.

Dark Ace tried to dodge around her to go after them - and ended up almost skewered when Aerrow lunged for his unprotected side. Only a quick hop back saved his stomach from becoming acquainted with the sharp end of one of her daggers.

“I don’t think so,” Aerrow spat. “I’m not done with you yet. You wanna dance? Fine, then let’s dance.”

They started again. 

Right, left, right, right again. A quick lean back to avoid a slash that would have cleaved her in two if she hadn’t moved, only to end up with a foot delivering a solid blow to her chest, forcing her to skid backwards. No choice but to shake it off, to get closer to Dark Ace again before he could press his advantage.

With how quickly they were moving, Aerrow didn’t have a chance to actually try thinking things through in advance. Each motion of her body was dictated more by instinct than thought at this point, reflexes taking over where the mind lagged behind.

A horizontal slash to the right became a source of momentum, Aerrow pivoting on her foot to send a kick with her left leg, aimed at Dark Ace’s ribs. When it didn’t land, she pushed off her right leg, taking a small step back to regain her balance before moving forward again, dagger held straight in front of her and moving in an upward arc.

She didn’t have time to tuck her arm back in before Dark Ace took advantage, dropping down to the left, avoiding her attack and nailing her in the side of the torso with the hand not holding his sword in one fell swoop.

Aerrow let out a small gasp, retreating again to put some distance between them to regroup. A quick check - that hurt, but nothing felt broken. Her breath was coming heavy, but that was due to the activity, not anything else.

She could still fight. Good. 

Assessment over, she tried again - this time from the high ground. She jumped - up more than anything, gaining enough altitude that she could add in a flip, gathering momentum to bring with her on her overhead strike, using both daggers.

Dark Ace grunted as he met her strike, both hands on the pommel of his sword so that he could brace himself. Even then, she still managed to move him backwards, his feet leaving furrows in the soil where he lost ground.

Her upper hand was short-lived. Once her feet were back on the terra, his foot shot out. The top of his snoe snagged the back of her ankle, hooking around it and yanking. Aerrow, balance gone, chose to abandon her press forward to change her fall into a more-or-less controlled fall. Back and hands (as much as they could be, at least, given she was holding a weapon in each) braced against the dark soil, her legs shot up and out, a quick windmill kick to keep Dark Ace from following her to the ground to try to pin her. Then they were brought under her, leveraging her to her feet again.

Aerrow paused. Took a slow breath in through her nose, let it out from her mouth. Just a moment, she thought, trying to regulate her breathing before she would need to get back into the rhythm of the fight. 

Staying still too long would do her no good, forcing her to think on the tremble in her legs from the fight, the journey through the forest before it, and all the Talons she had to take out before that.

Of the two of them, Aerrow was definitely the one who looked more ragged. That wasn't to say that Dark Ace was unaffected from their bought of physical activity, though. Her eyes ran over his form critically.

His armor had taken a few blows from her daggers, leaving shallow scratches in the metal of his chest plate and arm guards. Inky strands hung more into his eyes than usual, sweat starting to pull his hair down further. Dark eyebrows were furrowed slightly over red eyes kept narrow, scrutinizing her every twitch.

Aerrow could admit, begrudgingly, that the man was excellent at reading body language. She wasn’t sure how long he had been training or what that training consisted of, but it clearly worked. The majority of her strikes had been blocked or diverted soundly, as if the man could read her mind. No matter what Aerrow tried to pull, his sword was almost always there to meet her own - and it was doubly impressive because he was using only one blade to her two.

No part of his body was underutilized when he was defending. The tip of his sword would knock away one attack one moment, then the pommel of his sword would be guarding against her other blade the next. It was also used strategically when he  decided to go on the offensive. If the blade of his weapon was pointed away from her, he would throw out kicks or punches for her to dodge while he brought it back around for another go.

It was easy to see how he had climbed so high in the Cyclonian rankings despite being only a handful of years older than her. Cases where talent exceeded age and experience could exist; he was clearly one where his talent was honed instead of simply being costed on, and it showed in how well he fought.

The sound of a Heliscooter approaching reached her ears. She chanced a glance up - still nothing that she could see, but that was fine. As long as it flew over the path she and Dark Ace were standing on, she wouldn’t need anything more than a handful of seconds.

She turned her attention back to Dark Ace but kept her ears open. Her mind raced. How long until it came into view? Thirty seconds? No, the sound was still too faint. It was farther out than that. Closer to forty five, she decided. Okay, you got this, Aerrow. Just hold on for a little longer.

Maybe her need to buy time showed on her face, or maybe her body language gave it away. Either way, Dark Ace proved a valuable asset in her mission to waste away the clock.

“What's the matter, Sky Knight?” he taunted her. His foot twitched forward; automatically, Aerrow shifted back. The smirk on his face pulled wider, threatening to show teeth at her perceived weakness. “You were so full of fire just a few short moments ago. Now here you stand, refusing to do anything. Tell me, has reason finally returned to you? Have you realized that you aren't going to win?”

Aerrow shot him a scathing look in response, refusing to answer verbally though her grip tightened on her weapons.

“What, you don't have a witty retort? Did you decide you do wish to keep your tongue after all?” Red eyes, already bright, lit even further with smug-tinged glee. “Smart choice. Who knew Sky Knights could learn? I always thought all of you were too dim-witted to pick up anything new.”

Words came pouring out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Bold words coming from the man who lost to me the last two times we met.”

Mentally, she gave herself a slap. If only it was possible to cram those words back into her mouth, to erase them from the memory of someone who had just heard them uttered.

This was about to go either very, very well for her or very, very poorly. Anger could cloud judgement and make people sloppy but only when it overtook someone's sense, leaving little room for rationality. Otherwise, it served as a very effective motivator to the person experiencing it - which, considering how well Dark Ace fought right now, would not be a fun time for her.

Better buckle up, Aerrow thought wryly.

Sure enough, the smug look giving to her earlier cooled over.

“How so?” Dark Ace returned, voice pointed.

Figuring she had already screwed herself over and it couldn't get any worse, Aerrow decided to try dancing on the line: saying enough to see if she could push Dark Ace further into his anger, but able to pull back if he proved to be more even-tempered than she hoped, even when in a foul mood.

“Memory not what it used to be?” she hedged. “You know, they say that's the first thing to go the older someone gets.”

The glow from his sword burned brighter, indicating an energy shot starting to build in the metal of his blade.

Good or bad thing? Aerrow wondered, eyeing it wearily. Push, or pull back?

She gave it a moment's thought. Made a decision.

“Well, the last time we met you tried to steal that Phoenix crystal from us - which, rude.” A quick shake of the head, as if she was trying to go off track and needed to refocus - or, in another light, a mocking show of her disapproval, a symbol of her disappointment in him for trying to do something that she thought him incapable of doing, not because she thought him above it but because she thought him so unskilled that he shouldn’t have tried it in the first place. She wasn’t sure which interpretation he would take from her gesture, or if he would create his own, third option. All she knew was that it worked, stoking the fire of his irritation.

The hum of an engine grew louder.

“But that didn’t end very well for you, as I remember,” she continued. “No crystal and a little bit charred at the edges. Tell me, how did it feel to be outmanoeuvred by a bird?”

Dark Ace gave an almost hiss-like sound of displeasure at her cheek, but Aerrow didn’t allow him the chance to get a word in. She barreled on, “And how did it feel, when I broke the Aurora Crystal before you could use it? I didn’t mean to bring the building down, true, but I would say that was still a point firmly in our favour.”

The hum grew even louder, closer.

“And then there’s now. This’ll be another point for the good guys. Try not to feel too bad about your three-point losing streak. These things happen, so I promise to not hold it against you.” Aerrow sent him a wink for good measure.

Confusion visibly cut through the Cyclonian’s anger. His visage became one of bewilderment. “What do you mean? You haven’t done anything besides stall me from chasing after your friends. That’s hardly a loss.”

Aerrow's eyes flicked up.

The hum became a roar of sound. High in the sky, over the very tops of the giant trees, a Heliscooter shot into view, searchlight blazing, leering down at her and lighting the path in a bright, white light, Aerrow at its center.

Dark Ace, following where she was looking, took his eyes off her.

Now!

“Say ‘bye’ to your bird’s-eye view.”

Aerrow reached and pulled, dragging her well of power up and out of her. She leapt, high into the air and glowing with an inner light.

The Heliscooter had no time to dodge the blast. Blue energy connected with one of the machine’s rear engines. Left with only one power source, the flying craft couldn’t support itself in the air properly. Dark smoke trailed behind it as it went spiralling to the ground, the driver jumping off and activating their parachute as soon as they started losing altitude.

The two of them watched the machine careen to the side, crashing through trees as metal screeched and bark splintered. The pilot, thinking they were safe, was coming down slowly, angling towards where she and Dark Ace stood.

Yeah, no, that wasn’t going to work, not if she still wanted to be able to try losing Dark Ace in the woods after this.

She pulled again, holding onto the surge of power this time instead of simply letting it go as quickly as possible. Taking aim, she braced herself and slashed. A wave of energy tore through the air in a horizontal crescent, aimed directly at the Talon continuing their descent.

Aerrow couldn’t see their face from where she stood; they were too far away. That was a small blessing, she reasoned. This was already hard enough; her nightmares wouldn’t need to know exactly what face the pilot made when they saw the attack coming, tried to list to one side - then stopped, as they realized the futility. No matter how fast they moved, there would be no dodging. The crescent simply covered too much space on either side of them.

No, her nightmares wouldn’t need to know what face that person made as they died, sliced cleanly in two by the sharp edge of the blue energy, bottom half falling straight down from where it was detached from the upper half, which had no choice but to let the wind decide where it was going to land now that the parachute operator couldn’t steer it. Her nightmares would have no problem imaging what they might have looked like the next time she closed her eyes to sleep.

This wasn’t the first person she had killed, directly or not, and they wouldn’t be the last. It wasn’t even a hard decision to make, sending them to their death. Between the two of them, she would always pick her survival over an enemy’s.

That didn’t mean that every time someone fell to one of her blades, her heart didn’t hurt from the loss of life. There were very few people she could kill without remorse. Foot soldiers simply following orders, even if they worked for the Cyclonian empire, weren’t on her list.

An impressed whistle drifted over to her.

“I thought it unexpected you would leave me to possibly die by the phoenix, but this?” Dark Ace commented, indicating the trail of smoke that drifted up over the treetops and the parachute that was only now disappearing out of view. “This is, dare I say, impressive.” Red eyes that had previously regarded her only with disdain were now emoting something even worse - curiosity.

That Aerrow had done something that made such a despicable man as Dark Ace approve of made her almost physically ill. His favoured regard was oil on her skin, making it impossible for her to feel clean.

“I didn’t do it to impress you.” Her tone was cold, harsh.

Dark Ace chuckled almost ruefully. “No, I suppose you didn’t. It is a shame though - that sort of mercilessness is highly regarded among the Talons. I’m almost tempted to offer you a position among our ranks.”

Aerrow visibly bristled.

This received an exasperated sigh. “Yes, yes, I know - over your dead body.” His head cocked in subtle question, he regarded her once again for a moment. “Well, I will admit that what happened in the phoenix cave was unfortunate, and that you did best me in the battle for the Aurora Stone. But I find myself not understanding what you meant about claiming another victory here.”

His sword flashed around in a showy circle, indicating to himself - that he was still armed, still uninjured, and, at this moment, still very much able to pursue her if she fled or fight her if she stayed.

He took a step towards her; Aerrow took a step away from him. Only this time it wasn’t a feint, a test to see how she reacted. Step after step, he began to advance and Aerrow had no choice but to retreat unless she wanted him to close the distance between them. 

Which, yeah, no. Smaller distances meant less space for a head start when running away. He could stay all the way over there - far away(ish) from her.

The light the Heliscooter gone, the glow from their weapons once again lit up the night; the shadows on his face became pronounced again, turning his expression severe in a way that was disconcerting to see on a human, no matter who they were.

“Let’s take stock of the situation, shall we?” he crooned at her, voice settling low, soft, dark. “Your team has been split up into three units in unfriendly territory. You are vastly outnumbered. And while you may have destroyed most of our skimmers-”

Aerrow had to interrupt him at this point. “Wait, what? What does that mean?”

Dark Ace blinked at her. “What do you mean, what does that mean? I’m not speaking in riddles. It means that you destroyed most of our skimmers with your little bomb trick.”

She gave him a blank stare.

“Do you really not -?” He stopped his advance forward, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose, eyes closed and brows furrowed as if he had spontaneously conjured a headache into being. “Are you telling me that you have no idea what your squadron pulled back at the Rex Guardian headquarters?”

“Uh, yes…?” But if he looked like that, did she really want to know?

“Oh for the love of -” He visibly began to count to ten in his head. Aerrow might not be able to read minds, but she knew what that looked like from all the times she had evoked the same reaction in Argyn or Piper.

Apparently done with his calming exercise, Dark Ace dragged his palm down his face with a sigh. “Your squadron blew up the hangar that housed our skimmers, leaving most of them completely inoperable.”

That… honestly sounded like something they would do, yeah. It would have been Stork’s idea, no doubt, with Finn acting as a willing accomplice and Junko too soft to tell them no.

The Talon waved his hand to the side as if pushing the matter aside. “The point being,” he continued, “that while we might not have the amount of skimmers we came here with, the Heliscooter you shot down was not, by any means, our only mode of transportation.”

To highlight his words, the sound of a skimmer’s engines graced her ears. Faint, but growing louder, coming closer.

Dark Ace resumed his walk towards her, Aerrow almost tripping over her own feet to back away at the unexpected motion. But something was different this time. Instead of walking towards her in a straight line, as he had done before, backing her up straight down the path, now he moved slightly to the side.

She didn’t understand why, but she also wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. It meant that she needed to add a little bit rotation to her steps, allowing her to creep closer and closer to the vegetation that rose up beside them - perfect for what she wanted to do next, the trees making it harder for anyone to track her or attack her from behind (a shove, stumbling, someone falling to the ground in her place) when she went back to crashing through them as she raced away, hopefully in the direction Piper and Radarr had ran in.

“It was a good try,” Dark Ace mused. Idly, he turned off the crystal in his sword. The red disappeared, bathing them in light that was only blue.

Aerrow stared at him incredulously.

Then her mind began to race. Why would he do that? Did he intend to make her reckless, provoking her to attack him without thought to the consequences, tricking her into thinking she had the upper hand with him weaponless? Was he carrying something else on him he intended to use instead?

Dark Ace put his weapon back in the sheath on his back. Crossed his arms over his chest.

Aerrow’s mind continued to race. What was she missing? Why wasn’t he doing anything?

Something crashed down on the side of her head.

Aerrow's world went black.